And another week here in the Holy Land, and just a week ago, the new year of the trees. Tu B’shvat.
It marks the beginning of the sap rising, and renewal, after the rainy season. The winter is not yet over but we have reached the half way mark. The days are getting longer, Shabbat is starting later, and the almond trees are budding, the first trees to blossom as the weather shifts into spring in this glorious land.
The devastation of the past two years has been a call to take stock. The world we knew and the freedom we so took for granted, have been tested to the extreme. Everyone throughout the planet is trying to make sense of the drama that unfolded and is still not in its last act.
The quest for the truth has never ever been greater. Have we truly lived through a major global medical emergency? Was this the most unimaginable challenge to humanity in history? That question is still being pondered.
For many who shouted conspiracy theorists, the 'asimon' has fallen (an Israeli expression meaning the truth has been understood at last). However once a truth seeker, always a truth seeker because one’s conscience will not rest until the answers become revealed. Inevitably there are always more questions, but truth, in time is always revealed, and the sheker(lies)exposed. It seems to be the way of the world.
As believers we know G-d wins, always...it is just the path that is not always so clear. We, the people of the book, are forever learning, forever digging deeper for clues, for direction, but at times, all the paradigms we knew shift and we are left wanting.
Who are the “Torah giants” today? Who are the “professionals” and who are the “lawmakers”? Can any of them be trusted? Or have so called leaders failed us now too?
No doubt the vast majority would agree that the world is going through a major transition. There are those who just want life to resume as it was before, but clearly this is no longer possible. Too many have lost too much, and at best, can only start all over again. How the world will evolve depends on each and everyone of us.
We are in uncharted territory.
I remain optimistic because I believe humanity is resilient. We need to reprioritize but we can, as we have so many times before. We must do and we must hear, like at Sinai. Day by day.
I have my theories, as we all do, but that is much less relevant now, than planning together how to move forward. Living in Jerusalem is already the realization, that anything is possible. That even after almost 2000 years of wandering from this very place I and my children and so many others have returned. We never gave up and we will never ever give up!
My tambourine hangs at the entrance to my doorway, as did Miriam the Prophetess' musical instruments so the women of Israel could epxress their thanks to G-d for His miracles.
Because, just as then we knew we would soon be celebrating our freedom, so too now...we stand ready. ...and as our Sages said, it is in the merit of the righteous women.