Shanah Tovah. Big Questions.
The Jewish High Holidays balance joy and somber introspection. We celebrate a new year by wishing one another “L’shanah Tovah!” (“unto a good year”) on Rosh Hashanah, and just ten days later we greet one another with “Tzom kal” (“easy fast”) as we enter Yom Kippur.
It is the perfect time to consider why the answers to life’s big questions are so hard to find.
The elusive nature of this quest is illustrated by a childhood memory. Family friends, the Rosensteins, were giving me a ride back to our neighborhood. The adults’ conversation in the front seat turned to broken fan belts, to which five-year-old me confidently asserted, “My dad has a fan belt. It keeps him cool all day.” To which Mrs. Rosenstein graciously replied, “Oh! That’s nice Danny.”
My caretakers neither chided me nor corrected my completely erroneous understanding. But neither did they buy into my firm belief of what a fan belt is and what it does. It would have been foolish to listen to a five-year-old who had never seen the inside of an engine compartment and lacked comprehension of an internal combustion engine’s complexities.
Yet, this kind of foolishness is how many approach answering life’s big questions.
When it comes to answering: “Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Is this all there is? What happens when we die?” we are like a cute but ignorant five-year-old. No matter how perceptive, sincere, or erudite we are as grownups, we cannot speak knowingly about things we do not and cannot know. Why? We lack the sensory equipment to discern these realities
Our five senses are perfectly attuned for understanding the matter that makes up life – but not for discerning why life matters. Our Creator gave us senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch – that are perfectly suited for stewarding His creation and knowing and caring for the material world. But they are wholly inadequate for discerning the non-material sphere of life – the realm in which all the big questions exist.
Living based solely on our five-sense-bound insights is akin to the Rosensteins allowing my five-year-old self to shape their understanding of fan belts…but with disastrous results. Our inability to discern meaning rotates the vortex of despair that plagues our culture, especially among the young. We are literally dying for meaning. Thankfully, like the Rosensteins, there is someone who knows better.
The One who created life tells us what we cannot discover on our own. God’s counsel has been our protection from the beginning; He saw the non-material reality our five senses were never meant to see, and He told us the way to life.
From every tree in the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17).
God is still showing us what we need to see.
I am happy to report that I now have an accurate understanding of a fan belt and its function. Escaping my five-year-old ignorance took two things: the humility to acknowledge I didn’t know what I was talking about, and the input of someone who did.
As we enter the High Holy Day season, let us humbly accept our God-given limitations. Let us joyfully receive the One who sees what we cannot see, knows what we cannot know, and graciously reveals it to all who seek Him. Whether we are Jewish or Gentile, may the coming new year, 5783 on the Jewish calendar, find us seeking, seeing and sharing the One who knows why life matters.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; revere the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Messiah. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:17-18)
Written by Dan, Life in Messiah Board Chair
What big questions do you have about life?
Is there some area where you would like for God to fill your five-year-old ignorance with His knowledge?
Are you familiar with the High Holidays? If not, learn more here. Rosh Hashanah kicks off the Fall Feasts on the evening of September 25th, 2022.