A Happy New Year for Israel.
Israel is reeling from the results of its humiliating war with Hezbollah. On the one hand it earned the disgust of almost the entire world community for the resulting civilian casualties and destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure. On the other hand Hezbollah was not defanged and came out looking better than ever to the Muslim world.
Teshuva, in Jewish tradition, is moral self-examination and the "turning" from patterns of behavior or thought that cause harm to self and others to patterns that are healthy and good, according Rabbi Maurice Harris of Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon.
During the upcoming High Holy Days, Jews are told to focus communally on teshuva in our individual and collective relationships, he writes. "We humans have the ability to change our habits - and that we sometimes do - is one of our great sources of hope. To believe that we can change even deeply entrenched behavior patterns often requires an act of faith."
"We are called upon to exert ourselves in the search for peace. The commandment is to "seek peace and pursue it." This is understood to mean, "seek peace" wherever you happen to be and "pursue it" if it is elsewhere."
"Right now we are saddened by where we happen to be. The aftermath of war is where we happen to be. Civilian deaths by the hundreds is where we happen to be. A furious Israeli electorate possibly ready to run into the arms of the right wing is where we happen to be. An Islamic and Arab street cheerleading a man called Nasrallah who promotes shocking anti-Semitic ideas is where we happen to be. Never before in my lifetime has it been more important to realize that we must pursue peace because it truly is elsewhere."
Israel is in a state of shock. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's continued leadership is in doubt. He doesn't know what to do and is dangerously appealing to the hard line right wing by putting off previous plans to withdraw from the West Bank.
But this is precisely what Israel must not do. Terrorism is the symptom. The occupation - which condones the settlement of 200,000 militant Israelis in the occupied West Bank - is the disease. Eventually, Israel will cure the disease by leaving the occupied lands. The sooner the better for Israeli civilians.
Of course, Israel must be assured of its continued safety, but this Rosh Hashanah must be a period of creative thought and courageous action leading to a two-state future with mutual recognition and respect, an end to occupation, and an accepted place in the Middle East for Israel.