Hope is the antidote to despair.
Hope is shedding tears of grief and pain
and then getting on with the hard business of tikkun olamLit. Repair of the world According to Jewish mysticism, the world is in a broken state. Humanity's job is to join God, as God's partners, in its repair..
Hope is the knowledge that the world does not have to be as it is,
but as we wish it to be,
if we work to make it so.
The whole world is a very narrow bridge, the rabbis say;
hope is the courage to keep walking on the bridge,
with our eyes and hearts fixed on what could be on the other side.
Hope is our voices singing and praying together;
hope is the smile and the kind word and the selfless gesture.
Hope is the knowledge that we can never complete the work,
and that the world can be a better place
if we work to make it so.
May we embrace hope as this new year unfolds with its limitless possibilities.
