Sometimes it is difficult to think of others. We are burdened by our own worries. We reach out to God with our own troubles. This tendency is understandable. It is also not what God asks of each of us. God asks us to think of others, to pray with others in mind.

Next year in a Jerusalem at peace! At our seders I will recall that Passover is first and foremost about hope.  For two thousand years we held fast hope.  This year I will grab hold to hope once again. 

Next time when faced with a menial task, rather than dismiss it or suggest it is for others, embrace it and ask, “How can this elevate my life?  How can this seemingly mundane task lead to holiness?” There is nothing beneath us.  Everything can be made holy.

Everything about our prayers is about the collective.  We celebrate together.  We mourn together.  We pray for the sick together.  We do not speak about individual needs, but instead about what we need.  It is about our hope.

The community is a salve.  It is the solution to selfishness.  It is balm against extremism.  It goads us, leading us to our higher moral selves.  But a group without proper leadership can go astray.  Then its worst impulses can lead to ruin.  Without purpose and mission, the group can devolve into sinful ends.

We must write our own history and not sit around waiting to be the victims of history. Zionism is about taking the painful lessons of antisemitism to heart and taking the fight to the antisemites. There is no doubt that this war is Israel’s fight. That is why the vast majority of Israelis support it.