'Sacred Time': Jewish sovereignty, an essential part of our identity

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik’s book Sacred Time is an important reminder of what Judaism teaches. It’s not only a religion of faith and monotheism but also a unique system of ethics, a way of life, based on the sanctification of time. As far as I know, no other religion even claims to do that. Christianity and Islam are devoted to worshiping their founders, Jesus and Mohammed.

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, author of Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship and among the most respected Jewish scholars in the world, is director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University and rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City.

The essence of Judaism, as he explains, is to sanctify time; for example, Shabbat, as a way of worshiping God.The focus, however, is not only based on faith but also on human experience, introspection, self-evaluation, and self-awareness. Connecting to God in prayer, therefore, involves asking important questions: Who am I? What is my purpose? What are my priorities? How can I become a better person?

Making time sacred

The duality of involvement both in this world and in a spiritual direction is bound up in the division of the week into six days of work, building, and creation, and a seventh devoted to one’s connection to that which is eternal. The reason for making time sacred is what gives meaning to life. As Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote in his book The Sabbath, “There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord.”

RABBI SOLOVEICHIK begins his exploration of “Jewish endurance” and Jewish identity by focusing on “the supreme Jewish insight, that holiness can inhere in both space and time.” There are, therefore, sacred sites, but Shabbat – the holiness of time – transcends everything. Remembering significant events allows us to re-experience them, especially during the holidays.

The uniqueness of the Jewish experience, he explains, is expressed in the phases of the moon’s monthly cycles which correspond to events in Jewish history and represent the essence of the Jewish people. “In its seeming disappearance into darkness, only to be suddenly reborn, the ancient rabbis saw the ultimate symbol of the eternal people: a nation born as it emerged from the night of slavery into the daylight of liberty...The renewal of the moon reminds Jews that we are chosen, but Judaism never lets us forget that we have been chosen as God’s messengers to humanity.”

The period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, he explains, is when “we commemorate nothing less than the entire nature of the universe: the birthday of the world. This universality pervades the Jewish message of renewal and redemption.

But that’s not all. The High Holy Days are also about the families of our patriarchs and matriarchs and the prophetic call for awareness. On Yom Kippur, we appeal for divine forgiveness. As in the story of Jonah, we search for God and may question His presence, especially during tragedies and persecution, but we will eventually understand that God is everywhere.

Soloveichik recounts stories of Jews who suffered abuse and torture as prisoners of Zion in the Soviet Gulag, such as Natan Sharansky. Yosef Mendelevich, in his autobiography, Unbroken Spirit, describes efforts by the authorities to break him during his decade-long struggle to survive as a Jew and to observe Jewish laws.

In contrast to religions that emphasize moral degradation, Judaism encourages admitting guilt and regret as a way of self-improvement. “To know that we are guilty of not doing better is to know that we could have done better, and, to know that... is to affirm that we can do better.” That is the basis for taking responsibility for what we do. “We are imperfect, a work in progress...”

On Sukkot, we acknowledge everything that God has given us and, living in temporary shelters, we re-experience our forefathers’ wandering in the desert, relying only on God’s protection.

HANUKKAH, RABBI Soloveichik notes, was more than our victory over Greek paganism, our refusal to assimilate, and our desire for independence. That miracle, symbolized by a small flask of oil that lasted for eight days, is celebrated by Jewish families lighting candles in their homes – sanctifying both.

Insightfully, Soloveitchik also includes Israel’s Independence Day and Jerusalem Day along with other holidays including Tu Bishvat, Purim, and Passover. “To commemorate the creation of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem as holidays in the Jewish covenantal calendar is thus to declare that Jews will forever remember these events because, through them, God’s chosen people experienced His hand in history.

“It is a miracle that after so many civilizations have disappeared from the earth, Jewish children continue to be born. It is a miracle that as antisemitism today continues to haunt the nations of Europe and has spread alarmingly into key American institutions, religious Judaism flourishes in the State of Israel.”

Regarding Shavuot, Soloveichik writes: “For if the Torah contains limitless insights waiting to be found, God will provide Jews to discover them. The Torah’s infinity guarantees Jewish eternity.”

On Tisha B’Av, when we mourn the destruction of the Temple, the end of the Jewish commonwealth, and the dispersion of Jews throughout the world, Soloveichik recounts stories of how Prime Minister Menachem Begin observed the holiday as an example of what the State of Israel represents.

Similarly, a story about Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, introduces the book. “Seeing himself on this forthcoming flight as a representative not only of his country but of the Jewish people, he intended to mark, while in space, the onset of the Sabbath – and to do so while holding a goblet... of wine... and pronouncing the special prayer that sanctifies the arrival of the Sabbath... we have a stunning image of a Jew, floating in the heavens and sailing among the stars as he is vocally commemorating God’s creation of the universe in six days and blessing the Sabbath... over a cup of wine.”

“Tisha B’Av encapsulates the essence of the Jewish approach to time, the meaning of Jewish memory, and the secret to Jewish eternity... We mourn because we owe it to the past to remember all that has been lost, to keep alive within us those who have come before, and to continue to dream in the midst of mourning of what might yet come to be... to mourn is to hope; to mark Tisha B’Av in sadness is never to give up on the happiness in the waiting.”

Although chapters of Sacred Time may not fit with our traditional views of some of the holidays, including national perspectives, this book emphasizes their importance for Jewish identity and continuity. Paradoxically, Jewish sovereignty is not just a political statement and the fulfillment of Zionism but an essential part of Jewish identity. Our sovereignty and our destiny are intertwined and define each other.

As the author’s great-uncle Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik wrote in Reflections of the Rav: “An exceptional people inhabit an exceptional land. It is ‘a land which the Eternal your God looks after; on which the Lord your God always keeps His eye, from year’s beginning to years’ end’ (Deut.11:12). Jewish destiny is linked with this land; we have no other.”

The reviewer is a PhD historian, writer, and journalist.The podcasts, lectures, and essays of the book’s author can be found at his website: meirsoloveichik.com.SACRED TIMEBy Meir Y. SoloveichikMaggid Books/Koren Publishers200 pages; $30