Our fate is not determined…

In a few short weeks it will be Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year. It is quickly followed by Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement and the end of the period is marked by the holiday called Simchat Torah – last year coinciding with 7th October…a day of very great loss that started a new world for many of us.

This year especially as we enter this very serious period there will be many articles about topics related to forgiveness, introspection, repentance and much of this is necessary and important.

There is another point I would like to focus on and as many times this year I have turned to the late Rabbi Sacks for some much needed inspiration.

The core principle of this period in Judaism is called in Hebrew – ‘Teshuva’. It does not translate easily but means both ‘return’ in a physical sense and ‘repentance’ in a spiritual sense. In other words it is a chance to ‘reboot’. As Rabbi Sacks, says more profoundly:

“Teshuvah tells us that our past does not determine our future. We can change. We can act differently next time than last. If anything, our future determines our past.”

With all the pain suffered by so many on both sides at the hands of the terrorists, and its global ripple effect, it is perhaps too easy that this period of introspection turns into one of depression and/or overwhelming fatalism. In my personal – unqualified – opinion, that is not how we should see things…we need to realize that our fate is not sealed physically and spiritually and that we can reboot.

We have hostages to return, we have a war against terror to fight, we have to defend and defeat enemies both physical and spiritual who seek our destruction, we have children to raise and guide ethically, we have a fractured society to heal and a world to continue to be positive contributors to.

We should of course self-reflect because as a person of faith I can’t simply look to external factors like Hamas, Iran and the ICJ for answers, and just personally I have a huge number of faults to fix, but we should focus on ‘returning’ from this reflection stronger, more united, more faithful and better prepared physically and spiritually to fight on.

We have the fight of our lives on our hands and we have seen tremendous pain, but this next month is an opportunity to reflect, return and reboot.

I will let Rabbi Sacks have the last words:

“Faith is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty. Faith is never easy. The great heroes of the moral life, like the great artists and scientists and thinkers, like anyone who has undertaken to live a life of high ideals, know failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment. What made them great is that they refused to despair. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, they said to fate, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me’ (Genesis 32:26). Judaism is built on that faith. Jews refused to let go of God, and God refused to let go of them. They wrestle still. So do all who have faith.”

Fate is NOT determined…

In a few short weeks it will be Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year. It is quickly followed by Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement and the end of the period is marked by the holiday called Simchat Torah – last year coinciding with 7th October…a day of very great loss that started a new world for many of us.

This year especially as we enter this very serious period there will be many articles about topics related to forgiveness, introspection, repentance and much of this is necessary and important.

There is another point I would like to focus on and as many times this year I have turned to the late Rabbi Sacks for some much needed inspiration.

The core principle of this period in Judaism is called in Hebrew – ‘Teshuva’. It does not translate easily but means both ‘return’ in a physical sense and ‘repentance’ in a spiritual sense. In other words it is a chance to ‘reboot’. As Rabbi Sacks, says more profoundly:

“Teshuvah tells us that our past does not determine our future. We can change. We can act differently next time than last. If anything, our future determines our past.”

With all the pain suffered by so many on both sides at the hands of the terrorists, and its global ripple effect, it is perhaps too easy that this period of introspection turns into one of depression and/or overwhelming fatalism. In my personal – unqualified – opinion, that is not how we should see things…we need to realize that our fate is not sealed physically and spiritually and that we can reboot.

We have hostages to return, we have a war against terror to fight, we have to defend and defeat enemies both physical and spiritual who seek our destruction, we have children to raise and guide ethically, we have a fractured society to heal and a world to continue to be positive contributors to.

We should of course self-reflect because as a person of faith I can’t simply look to external factors like Hamas, Iran and the ICJ for answers, and just personally I have a huge number of faults to fix, but we should focus on ‘returning’ from this reflection stronger, more united, more faithful and better prepared physically and spiritually to fight on.

We have the fight of our lives on our hands and we have seen tremendous pain, but this next month is an opportunity to reflect, return and reboot.

I will let Rabbi Sacks have the last words:

“Faith is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty. Faith is never easy. The great heroes of the moral life, like the great artists and scientists and thinkers, like anyone who has undertaken to live a life of high ideals, know failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment. What made them great is that they refused to despair. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, they said to fate, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me’ (Genesis 32:26). Judaism is built on that faith. Jews refused to let go of God, and God refused to let go of them. They wrestle still. So do all who have faith.”