I am reading essays in the Rabbi Jonathan Sacks hagaddah, and am struck by another recurring theme: hope. I have been thinking a lot about hope over the past year, what it is and what sustains it and how to help it grow. The following are beautiful words from Rabbi Sacks z”l:
Hope is born when people first come to believe the following: that there is an author of the universe; that He is not merely the first cause, prime mover, initiator of the big bang, but that He is actively involved in history; that He is personal, meaning one who understands us; that He brought the world into existence not out of mere curiosity or for some reason unfathomable to us, but out of love, as a parent gives birth to a child; that, despite the chasm between God and us, the infinite and the miniscule, the eternal and the fleeting, there is communication, God speaks; that God binds himself to the same rules of ethics He gives to us; and that therefore, having given His word, He will not fail to honor it.
Wishing you and yours a chag kasher v’sameach! Have a beautiful Yom Tov!
