How can we impart to younger Jews – raised in a world in which narcissism is considered normal and even healthy, and feelings matter more than truth or substance – the spirit of sacrifice, the nobility of surrender to God’s will, or the willingness to embrace moral notions that are Divine and objective but contrary to the prevailing norms?
Perhaps we can enlighten them as to the great people in our history who celebrated, loved, and lived the Torah when it was not as easy as it is today: Rabbi Akiva and countless others who forfeited their lives to teach the Torah; parents who retain as their primary ambition in life raising children who love, respect, and will learn the Torah; and communities that will faithfully transmit it unaffected by the winds of modernity that are gusting through others.
Those individual giants and committed communities have sustained us until today and will continue to do so in the future. And we should underscore how every Jew has a share in the Torah if only he or she embraces it – a Torah that is “our lives and the length of our days.”
That is the true and enduring celebration of the Torah.
Chag Sameach to all!
