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June 3, 2007

A Sign of Hope

T
his past Saturday, I sat during Shabbat services next to my daughter during the Bat Mitzvah of a very close friend's own 13 year-old daughter (who, as the services unfolded, proved herself to be every bit and more the woman she now is under Jewish law).

My daughter looked behind the bima (the area where the rabbi stands and from where the Torah, the first five Books of the Bible, is read every week in front of the Congregation). On the wall facing the Congregation was a giant Menorah, a 7-branched candelabrum. My daughter asked me what the Menorah means. According to the Torah, God commanded Moses to fashion one out of gold after revealing to him His vision of what a menorah should look like. [Numbers 8:4.] I said to my little girl that I think the Menorah is a sign of hope.

As God would have it on this day, my daughter and I, along with my wife and son and the rest of the Congregation, watched and listened -- with this wall-sized Menorah as a perfect backdrop -- to this remarkable young woman standing on the bima give life to the hopeful symbol behind her.

That beautiful, brilliant young woman on the bima was reading the very Torah portion in which God revealed his vision to Moses. The Bat Mitzvah chanted God's words with the voice of a songbird. And she has the countenance of an angel.

As we watched the Bat Mitzvah confidently connect with the Congregation, I couldn't help but think that there really is reason to hope for our future. This is a very special young person we saw. L'dor v'dor.

Moz'l Tov, Eric.

Posted by shertaugh at June 3, 2007 6:28 PM

Comments

Although not in the same parshah, my favorite short quotation for hope is, "I am what I shall become." (Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh, Ex 3:14), what G-d answered when Moses asked, "What should I call you?" To me, it means that we're never stuck where we are; we can change, and we should change.

Sounds like you had a good yom tov. That's what it's there for, after all.

Posted by: Sue at June 3, 2007 8:48 PM

I am so, so sorry I missed it! Much love Muller's all. I would have loved to have seen you.

Posted by: martha at June 3, 2007 11:04 PM

According to Dante, "hope" is what separates hell from everything else.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" is what he reasoned must be inscribed on the entrance to hell.

If he's right, then when you abandon hope, you must already be in hell.

Likewise, according to the legend of Pandora's Box, once the box was opened all evil things about men--envy, greed, sloth, hatred--flew out and engulfed the universe. Only one thing remained when the box was closed: hope.

Hope is the last hold out.

Posted by: Tim at June 3, 2007 11:56 PM

Thanks.

Posted by: Eric at June 4, 2007 9:25 AM