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March 4, 2022 (1 Adar II 5782) Chadeish Yameinu: חדש ימינו Dear Friends, I hope this correspondence find you doing well, in good health and good cheer. We hope that you will be able to join us this Shabbat for our hybrid services at 10:30am, which will take place both in person as well as on our regular zoom prayer link. We continue to build our in-service attendance each Shabbat, and we are grateful for your participation, in whatever manner works for you! As you may know, I was recently in Israel, as our Leffell school took over one hundred and fifty high-school students to the Holy Land for a ten-day excursion. As we were touring the Holy Land, seeing some of the typical tourist sites including Masada, the Western Wall and the Shuk (market), I was reflecting on a passage that we read as part of our liturgical rite while returning the Sefer Torah to the Ark on Mondays, Thursdays and Shabbatot. The text reads Chadesh Yameinu K’Kedem- we pray that HaShem should return our days to those of the past. In context, the prayer is meant to reference Jewish sovereignty, Davidic kingship, potential messianism, dedication to Torah and spiritual oneness with God, and so, in and of itself, it is a very meaningful prayer. Nonetheless, seeing the holy land in action these days is fascinating. The streets are filled with sounds of Hebrew (whether with a Russian, Yemenite, or French accent), the marketplaces are bustling with folks pushing each other in line (an ancient Israeli custom) and the air permeates with a taste of Torah as part of normal discourse. Additionally, everyone is on their cell phone all the time! The buses and the light rails are equipped with internet connectivity so that no one needs to forgo a moment of high-speed communication. My guess is that neither King David, Moshe Rabeinu, or Theodore Herzl, would have imagined the world in which the Holy Land today thrives. Witnessing the plethora of miracles of modern-day Israel, forces me to rethink the wording of the prayer noted above. While the themes are meaningful and grounded in our history, we should take note of the sophisticated society in which the state flourishes. Acknowledging these miracles forces me to question the concept of returning to the “ideal past.” What if we were to concentrate on the present and therefore reword the text to say Chadeish Yameinu K’Yameinu- renew our days as they are renewed each day! As I catch up on some much needed sleep over Shabbat, I pray that each of us can reflect on the triumphs of the Medinat Yisrael- a land flowing with milk and honey, a land predicated on democracy, a state magnifying Jewish independence, a nation of Torah values, a global community of Kehilla, and a light unto the nations. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD.
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