5766

October 3, 2005

This evening at sundown, on the eve (Erev) of Rosh Hashanah, Jews will begin our 5,766th year on this earth!  Who would have believed this possible?  If anyone had told Abraham that his people would be around this long he probably would have been astounded.

Imagine, we did this without beheading anyone, without a single suicide bomber, without kidnapping and murdering school children, without slaughtering Olympic athletes, and without flying airplanes into skyscrapers.

We lasted this long despite: 400 years as slaves in Egypt, 40 years of wandering in the desert, the mighty Roman army who nailed us to ten thousand crosses; despite the best efforts of the Christian crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition, Hitler’s third Reich, Stalin's gulags, five Arab wars of annihilation, 100 years of Arab and Arafat terrorism,and 800 hate–filled UN resolutions!

How did we Jews do it?

We did it by concentrating our efforts on education, love of family (both immdiate and extended), faith, hard work, helping one another and a passionate dedication to life no matter what evil befell us!   We hung in there with hope that the rest of the world would one day overcome its hatreds, jealousies, violence and join us in a life of cooperation and mutual respect.

We're not there yet, but we're still hopeful.  And when we enter our places of worship, this is what we always pray for, with all the strength in our hearts.

Sixteen years ago I created a collection of Judaic jewelry (www.JewishHeirlooms.com), with the Peace Star™ being the central piece.  I wrote a brief paragraph for each design in the collection.   What I wrote for the Peace Star™ in 1990 I could have written last night and yet.  .  .

.  .  .I still hope to see Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward all mankind.

Love,

Sam

FOOTNOTE

According to the above, in our Jewish calendar, the year is 5766.
According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4702.

That means that for 1,064 years the Jews went without Chinese food.

These were known as the Dark Ages