Today one of the most influential people in Israel was laid to rest. Shimon Peres, born Szymon Perski (1923-2016). He served as President, twice as Prime Minister, and member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning nearly 70 years. He is best known for his never ending quest to achieve PEACE between Israel and the Palestinians and being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat during the Oslo Accords. Sadly non of his efforts were successful in his lifetime. What impressed me the most is how in his death thousands of people and hundreds of dignitaries from all over the world, and even Mahmoud Abbas (the Palestinian authority came) together to honor this great man. Politics were put in a closet and locked in and everyone had the capacity to stand together in perfect peace emulating Shimon Peres legacy.
Tonight is the last Shabbat of this year, how befitting it is to begin this Holy Day showing our creator how the whole world can come together as one in the Holy Land. In (Deut 11:12) it says “Forever are the eyes of the Lord your G-d upon it (the Land of Israel), from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” What this means is that the year has a beginning and an end, the energy that sustained the world this year will withdraw on Rosh Hashana and after the sounding of the Shofar a new and superior light will descend to the world that has never shone before.
It is good to ponder today on our mortality and the time given to us in this world. On Rosh Hashana “all inhabitants of the world will pass before G-d like a flock of sheep,” and it is decreed in the heavenly court ” who shall live and who shall die… Who shall be rich and who shall be poor; who shall fall and who shall rise..”
The Zohar teach us that the continued existence of the universe is dependent upon the renewal of the divine desire for a WORLD when we accept G-d’s Kingship each year on Rosh Hashana.
Today I heard President Obama quoting the Torah and saying “G-d gives us a choice between life and death, choose life.”
May Shimon Peres Z’L memory be of blessing and his Legacy of Peace become a reality.
Shabbat Shalom
Live a little higher
