Living in the Future

Here is a parable for our lives:

A family climbs aboard a train.  They have no car, no place to call home either.  Each member carries his own suitcase.  The parents have their heavy suitcases full of a lifetime’s accumulations.  The children bear only small packages.

The little ones have a future.  And that future is worth all the massive suitcases in the world.

Yet, in both instances grip our suitcases as if they are the only things in the world.  We live in the present rocketing toward some determined destination.  We bought the ticket, boarded the train, packed our valuables and believe we have taken all the necessary steps for taking charge of our destiny.  But that is far from the truth.  After many years of life we ultimately conclude that we have little power to control our future.

The late Carl Sagan once explained the difference between an astronomer and an astrologer: “An astronomer can predict precisely where every star will be at 11:30 on any given night, but cannot say the same for his teenage daughter. For that, you need an astrologer!”

We all have dreams, visions and extensive plans for the future.   Retirement accounts and insurance are a hedge against our well-devised plans.   And still the unforeseen happens.  Throughout the ages people have turned to divination, necromancy, enchantments, horoscopes, I ching, and cryptic biblical passages that they believe will open the gates of what-will-come.“  Indeed, he does not know what is to happen,” declares King Solomon, “even when it is on the point of happening, who can tell him?” 

In the Talmud, the sage Rabbi Yochanan taught: “Since the Temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken from prophets and given to fools and children.”  Rabbi Yochanan was warning us against placing faith in our articulately designed plans.  Indeed, countless horrors have been committed throughout history because nations and religions refused to conform their beliefs to reality. Instead they sought to make reality conform to their beliefs, which resulted in terrible events (thank God there were no catastrophes because of the Mayan calendar last year).

Again the wise Solomon advises, “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.”

Do not live your life trying to peer behind impenetrable curtains.

Seek joy.  Live each day.

Where Past Intersects with Future

“Bring us back to Your Torah, our Father, and draw us near.”

These words are in our Shabbat prayers.  They hearken back to the place where we came from, our roots, our point of origin.  We cannot be present, much less envision a future, without a firm grip on our past.  That is why we plead for a return to where we came from.

William Faulkner wrote, “The past is not dead.  It isn’t even past.”  The vibrancy of life resounds in the chords played throughout our history.  They must not be dismissed for they live within us.  They sing to our soul.  The chords are present in every milestone - Hanukkah, Purim, Pesach, memorials….  To ignore these notes is to miss the symphony of life.

Perhaps this is what brings us all to our present. We recognize the truth of remaining faithful to our heritage, our past.  It is the solid bridge that connects to where we stand today.  Tradition is who we are and the key to our future.

One great rabbi wrote about our strivings at the dawn of one Rosh Hashanna, “He returns to his starting point, to where he stood….”  It is always this way.  The path forward wends back and the way back leads to the path forward.

May we realize more wonder from our history, reap joy from this grand moment, and sow seeds of continuity in our families.