So this is it, after what’s been a month full of Yom Tovim, we’re now in the final stretch of Chagim
I hope you’ve found them enjoyable and meaningful
Thanks to everyone who’s made this such a successful and uplifting Yom Tov period.
Although some might give a sigh of relief that this festive season is over and we can go back to normal, the truth is, this isn’t the end of the Jewish year, it’s just the beginning!
My prayer is that we feel inspired and well prepared for a year of spiritual growth and deepened commitment to make the coming year even better than the last.
May 5785 be a year of good health for us all, blessing, success and shalom al Yisroel.
Friends, this has been one of the most painful and challenging years for Am Yisrael
Last Shemini Atzeret, the story of the Jewish people, our story changed forever as we suffered a massacre on a scale of which we haven’t experienced since the Shoah.
While we we’re praying for rain, an evil wind blew into our beloved homeland and the most heinous acts of terrorism rained down on our beloved brothers and sisters.
Our hearts were broken for the families and friends of those who were murdered and those who’ve lost their lives subsequently, and we continue to feel the incomprehensible pain and distress of those who’s loved ones are still being held hostage and we stand in complete unity and solidarity with them.
We’ve suffered 12 months of tremendous heartache
At the same time, we’ve also seen how the heart of the Jewish people has come together, how we truly are Am echad – one people b’leiv echad – with one heart.
We’re mishpacha – a family, one family, a national family.
We may be a dysfunctional family at times but find me which family that doesn’t have its individual quirks and idiosyncrasies.
But when one of us is in pain, we all feel it. We’ve felt the pain, its ours.
If the ongoing situation in Israel wasn’t enough, we’ve also had to contend with record levels of Antisemitism here and around the world, hate spewed out in the media, on the streets, on social media and on campus.
CST report an unprecedented 200% increase in incidents, making many feel a deeper connection to Israel but also question what the future is for Diaspora Jewry.
The piece of good news we had in this “Annus Horribilis” is that Bendick’s Mints are still kosher!
But the rise in Antisemitism and vilification of Israel in politics and on the streets has been sickening.
What the Anti-Semites don’t know is this:
They may turn the world against us
But they’re accomplishing something that Antisemitism has always achieved
Strengthening our Jewish pride!
And the future doesn’t bode well for Anti-Semites
It didn’t go well for the Babylonians, Romans, Spanish Inquisitors and it’s not going to go well for today’s Jew haters.
Our nation is still shedding bitter tears over the merciless cruelty that was inflicted, the unthinkable evil that we endured. Our tears will not be forgotten.
They may have their moments of victory like they did last October but ultimately, like all our enemies, they’ll be consigned to the scrapheap of history whilst we, the eternal nation and all our wonderful advocates and supporters will carry on with our mission to improve the world.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked “Why are the Jewish people compared to an olive?
Just as an olive is first bitter, then sweet, so we suffer in the present but great good is stored up for us in the time to come.
The more they try to crush us, the more our inner beauty and strength is revealed.
And we’ve have seen countless examples of our true essence and resilience shining a light in this darkness
Such tremendous displays of achdut, chesed, koach and gevurah – inner resolve and determination to choose life where there’s been death, good in the face of evil, love in the place of hatred
I’m particularly proud of how we responded as a community with hundreds joining in communal prayers, vigils, collections, a solidarity trip and other wonderful initiatives that underline our deep connection to and unwavering support of Israel.
Friends, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room – the question of how we can celebrate this Yom Tov when it’s effectively the yahrzeit of all those who were murdered on this day, while the plight of the remaining hostages is still unknown and whilst Israel continues to fight a war on multiple fronts.
It’s remarkable that 51 years to the day, Rabbi Norman Lamm grappled with this conflict of emotions in the wake of the Yom Kippur war.
How can we participate in a joyous Simchat Torah when Israel has suffered so much?
How can we sing while Jewish mothers cry?
How can we dance while Jewish families in Israel grieve?
And yet, should we act on these sentiments and therefore mute, moderate, or even cancel out our Simchat Torah celebrations?
His answer was a resounding “No” most-certainly not.
The conclusion he draws isn’t just from a halachic perspective but also from a reading of the spiritual judgment of Judaism as well
What is simcha?
Firstly, it’s a sign of emunah – faith, an expression of our commitment to the existence of G-d as the Source of everything – וְשָׂמַחְתָּ לִפְנֵי ה” אֱלֹקיךָ.
It’s also an expression of our bitachon – confidence that G-d will help us.
However challenging things are currently, the situation today is better than in 1948! And it’s a million times better than in 1940, or 1941, 1942, 1943 or 1944!
Thirdly, simcha has never been blind to the reality of the present or the past, at a wedding – rosh simchati – we all know why we break a glass to remember that, as yet, we don’t have a Temple, we also reference it at our Seder and in Musaf on every Yom Tov, family not sitting shiva on Chol Hamoed!
To be sad doesn’t mean to interpret all of existence as an unmitigated evil, and to be happy doesn’t mean to ignore the tragic dimension of life.
That’s why the halachah teaches that there are times we must say two blessings simultaneously: hatov v’hameitiv – the blessing over good news and Dayan HaEmet – the blessing over bad news
It’s like the man who hears that his mother-in-law has died, and he’s inherited a fortune!
If Jews had decided to spurn simcha because of misfortune, we would’ve had a year-long Tisha B’Av for the last 2000 years!
If simcha is only to be expressed when our joy is complete and unmarred, by what moral right has any Jew sung or danced or gone to the theatre, listened to music or made a party?!
But we don’t need to resort to complex halachic arguments on how to live with mixed emotions and still have simcha.
It’s far more compelling when we just look at people like Rabbi Leo Dee, the Perez family – they made a simcha!
Jen and Rob Airley who’s 21-year-old son Binyamin was killed fighting in Gaza.
They said, “We cry together, but we also dance and laugh and we also live life. Instead of asking lama – why, we’re asking Le-mah – what can we do with this? What can we make of this? How can we make the world a better place? How can we keep shining Binyamin’s light?”
Esther Marcus from Kibbutz Alumim who spoke so movingly at a recent vigil about the horrendous experience her family and friends suffered on 7th October.
She was asked whether there be dancing on her Kibbutz this coming year, and without flinching she said, “Yes, a hundred percent…otherwise they win. And even if we don’t feel like it, we will! We have to!”
For her simcha is an imperative and so should it be for us.
Of course, we won’t forget the victims of October 7th or the brave soldiers who fell defending our people subsequently.
They’re our flesh and blood.
We cry with their broken-hearted parents, their bereaved wives, their orphaned children.
They’re part of us, and their pain is our pain.
That’s why today we said a special Yizkor – a memorial prayer for them.
We will never forget, we won’t diminish the evil that was done to us and the pain that it caused and continues to cause, but we will, and we must also be happy and we will dance because this is the Jewish way.
So, we will be happy tomorrow שִישׂוּ וְשִׂמְחוּ בְּשִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה.
We will be happy because it is an expression of emunah and bitachon.
We will be happy because our happiness issues not from naive simplicity but from a recognition that life is complicated and complex and paradoxical.
We will be happy because our joy itself will overcome hatred and adversity.
We will try to restrain the crying and sing out and if a tear falls, we’ll wipe it away and continue to dance because when we hold the Torah, we know that no defeat is permanent, and that victory will surely come.
Why? Because the Torah promises it.
“When you go out to war against your enemies” and you see all their armies gathered against you, horse and chariot, tanks and jets and missiles, an army far greater in number than yours, outnumbering and overwhelming you – do not be afraid of them.
כִּי ה” אֱלֹקיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם – because Hashem your God is with you,
לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם־אֹיְבֵיכֶם לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם – who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you victory
And ultimately – shalom – peace.