Hope and Faith

 Dear Friends,


A number of you have already seen part of this blog since I sent the link below to ascertain if it resonated with people and a number or you commented positively so I thought I would send this to all of you. The link had been sent to me and  I found it to be inspiring and hopeful. (see below) I hope you can open the link from YouTube.

Recently in the New York Times, (Sunday Dec. 22) David Brooks writes the following, in his article, "My Decade-Long Journey to Belief,"

"My life feels remusicked (his word...check it out online) since my own little Exodus journey began.  It turns out the experience of desire is shaped by the object of your desire.  If you desire money, your desire will always seem pinched, and if you desire fame, your desire will always be desperate.  But if the object of your desire is generosity itself, then your desire for it will open up new dimensions of existence you had never perceived before. for example, the presence in our world of an energy force called grace."  

 (In Judaism, we would say "rachamim, or mercy") (my comment)

While we are celebrating Chanukah we continue to be reminded of what a small group of people were able to accomplish when they put their minds and hearts toward their goals.  As we can see from the video from Rabbi Sacks (also see below), a few people can perform actions that can change the world and liberate people from what enslaves or persecutes them.  Whether it be the Exodus from Egypt, the Maccabees liberating the Temple from the Syrian Greeks, or from our own personal struggles, each of us can find hope if we have the faith that we can make a difference.

May the secular new year provide us with the resolve and faith to be one of those people who will want to make a difference through our generosity.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft



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