Prompted by this melancholy season to ponder the passage of time, our Rabbi Ammi Hirsch shares a connection that Jewish tradition draws between Jacob and Hanukkah. “We never know how our actions — or inaction will dramatically impact on generations to come…”
“How do you deal with uncertainty?” asks Rabbi Sam Natov. “We often expect the worst. Even after receiving God’s blessing, Jacob doesn’t trust fully” — and he offers God a bargain. “Yet we have always been a people of hope. Sometimes we choose to have faith.”
Rabbi Dalia Samansky loves Thanksgiving. But family gatherings can often be fraught. “As much as we’d all love to have a big happy family that gets along, this is not always the case,” she says. The Bible, too, is full of dysfunctional families and imperfect people. Perhaps “we don’t have to be perfect to be loved.”
“I have never shied away from engaging the political process,” said Rabbi Ammi Hirsch on the recent elections in the U.S. and Israel. Pointing out the need to constantly cultivate democracy and guard against the dangers of extremism, he explained: “I view my role as holding politicians morally accountable for the support and promotion of rhetoric and policies that impact upon millions of people.”
“Unlike other species, humans have trouble living in the moment,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov. “Sometimes we get stuck in the past when we need to keep moving, but sometimes we need to look back in order to learn how to move forward.”
Israel went to the polls this week, and it’s very possible the new government will include ministers “who preach intolerance and hatred,” says Rabbi Tracy Kaplowitz. But no matter how we feel about the results, we don’t receive permission to abandon Israel. “If we don’t believe our bond is unbreakable, we risk forgoing our part in the continuity of our people.”
