The High Holidays and the eternal Jewish People

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The strength and survivability of the Jewish people has always been their ability to simultaneously respect their rich history, to appreciate the gift of life, and to embrace optimism about the future. Coincidently, the Torah’s narrative also speaks to us in the past, the present and the future, bestowing a sense of eternity within our DNA.

The Torah begins with a history of the evolutionary creation of the universe and our planet Earth (time frame of 6 biblical days); including the creation of humans. God “rested” but did not “stop” on the 7th day, which suggests creation and evolution of the universe is still a work in progress.

These early humans evolved into curious, intelligent beings with a hunger for discovery, which led to the forbidden tasting of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Expelled from this earthly paradise for the transgression, but now endowed with knowledge to complement an appetite for discovery, humans were fated to roam the Earth seeking both sustenance for survival and satisfaction of their curiosity from nature.

Through their intelligence and discovery of the natural world, into which they had been thrust, with no memory of their divine origin, they begin their journey through history.

Fast forward to Abraham, who begins to wonder from whence he came. After millennia of idol worship, the One who created him reveals himself to Abraham as the Creator of All and Everything.

The acceptance of the One by Abraham as the only God and that there are no others, results in a Covenant with Abraham that his descendants will one day be a great nation, and will inherit the land upon which Abraham steps as the eternal home of the Jewish people.

The Torah adopts the present tense in relating the generations of the Children of Israel. We not only read but become contemporary witnesses to the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We witness Joseph’s dysfunctional relationship with his brothers, his being sold into slavery, his dramatic political rise in Egypt and his ultimate reconciliation with his brothers. We witness the enslavement of the Jewish people in Egypt but also the Exodus. As we recall each Passover, we were all present for the ultimate redemption at Sinai, along with the transformation of the Children of Israel from a tribal community into nationhood, and the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham of our eternal link to the Land of Israel.

Finally, the Torah gives us a glance into the future by codifying the laws and ethics we should follow to guide our individual and collective conduct in order to be secure and bountiful in the Land of Israel. The Torah directs our future purpose and destiny as a people to continue the work of creation in the future as “a light unto the nations.”

The strength and survival of the Jewish people, bound up with the Torah and linked forever to the Land of Israel even through two millennia of exile, demonstrates the three time-dimensional existence mirroring the Torah’s narrative.

The past, the present and the future, converge on Yom Kippur, a day we are explicitly commanded by God to observe throughout the generations. On Yom Kippur we reflect on the past, examine our current behavior and value systems, and contemplate our future destiny.

One of the factors to our strength and survivability is that we have, consciously or unconsciously, incorporated the Torah’s narrative of simultaneously embracing our past, our present and our future into our daily lives. That combination has given the Jewish people the ability to withstand every past calamity which has befallen our people, to react with hope and not victimhood in accepting the present, and to embrace optimism and innovation in building the future.

May you all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a year of health, happiness and success in all your endeavors; and may Israel and the Jewish people emerge victorious and united from the existential threat which currently confronts us.

If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner.

Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions.