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United with Israel Executive Director David Zeit, in the following letter to UWI readers and supporters, offers blessings and hope on the eve of the Jewish New Year.
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is the dawn of arguably the most auspicious time on the Jewish calendar. It is a time for prayer, introspection, repentance, and, most of all, hope. Hope for a renewed lease on life; hope for renewed blessings for the upcoming year; hope that we can continue to grow as individuals within the collective nation and as a nation.
Such optimism is rare in life, but not so in Jewish life and particularly not Jewish life in Israel. Our United with Israel family knows all too well the incessant anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism that we face on a daily basis. Yet Israel continues to thrive, to aspire for greater things and continues to offer hope.
One of the liturgical poems read during the Rosh Hashana prayers offers an acute synopsis of this renewed hope.
כקש נדף אני נרדף ונהדף – ולא נכנע ולא נמנע עמלי
“Like a scattered and wafted piece of straw I have been chased and driven; yet I have not surrendered nor relinquished my burden.”
Despite being tossed around, persecuted, exiled and murdered over the past 2000 years, the Jewish People continues not only to survive, but also to thrive. Despite all the challenges that the State of Israel has experienced in its young history, it not only survives, not only thrives, but also offers a sense of hope to the Jewish People and to the world as a whole.
An IDF soldier treats an earthquake victim in Nepal. (IDF)
Our “burden” nevertheless remains. What is that burden? To be a light to the world. It is a burden, but one that we gladly carry. And what is the light? That is the Light of Truth. Hence the expression “to bring the truth to light.”
The great Sages say: חותמו של הקב”ה אמת – “God’s seal, His “signature”, His very essence is truth.” The great Sages also obligate us, the Nation of Israel, to emulate God in all of His ways. מה הוא, אף אתה.. – “Just as He is Merciful, so too should we be merciful.” Just as God is all about truth, we too have the obligation to counter all the lies and spread the truth to the world.
Anti-Israel sentiment has become a politically acceptable form of anti-Semitism. The State of Israel and the Jewish People continue to be victims of persecution, and attempts are made continually to drive us like straw, but we have not and will NEVER relinquish our burden –to be a light to the world and to bring the truth to light.
I cannot think of a greater hope to renew at this very auspicious time of year.
Shana Tova – Have a happy and a healthy New Year!
David E. Zeit
Executive Director, United with Israel
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