The Test of 2006
| Author: Rabbi Chaim Levine | |
 To be honest, it's probably a wonderful thing that in the US we as a Jewish community experience two New Years, one spiritual, the other secular. It gives us a chance to think about some of the personal commitments we made just a few months ago.
From a secular perspective, it's been a long year for world Jewry and maybe even Seattle Jewry. Last January Ariel Sharon went into a coma he will probably not recover from, and Israel lost a seasoned leader. Up the road from Jerusalem hundreds of miles, Ahmadinejad continued his rise to the pole position for the most powerful anti-Semite since Nazi Germany. He is deadly serious about wiping Israel off the face of the planet. Locally, we had a terrorist attack in our own Jewish Federation, and the murder of Pam Waechter. Israel went to war after the cross border kidnapping of two soldiers. The war resulted in 4,000 Ketusha missiles being fired into Israel along with its human and material destruction. Meanwhile, according to Israeli defense establishment, Hezbollah's arsenal is almost back to where it was before the war began.
It's a fundamental misunderstanding of life to think that things are only going well when we personally or communally have no obstacles or resistance to overcome. Things are going well not when we are avoiding challenges but when we are meeting and transcending them. The Torah says that these are not just nice words. They are the truth.
Ariel Sharon goes into a coma and new leaders are forced to emerge, Ahmadinejad and his regime is a threat that is strengthening the resolve and preparation of Israel. The Lebanon war was a painful lesson but again forged the strength and morale of the everyday Israeli in the North. They were prepared to endure in the heat and darkness of the shelters for twice as long as they did if that is what it took. In Seattle we came together after the shooting as we rarely do, and we too are prepared and stronger than before.
The word for test in Hebrew is Nisayon; the root of the word is "Nase" which literally means miracle. The connection? Tests are like miracles in that they force people to reach inside and go beyond what they were before to overcome the resistance they are facing. Judaism explains this is why we are tested, so that we will grow in ways we never would otherwise, and when we do this, it's the true meaning of things going well.
We don't ask for tests but we don't run from them either and the Torah teaches that this is what we must share with our children. They too will be presented with obstacles and resistance, they too will at times look at that resistance and want to despair, but if we can teach them to have a broader perspective about the nature of life and these "obstacles" they won't be beaten down by them, they will be forged by them to become something more than they were before. They will begin to see beyond their "obstacles" and this will enable them to become different people then they otherwise would have been.
This is our mission for the calendar year 2007. There is nothing standing in our way.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy New Year (round 2),
Chaim Levine
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