Counting the Omer Day 13
I see the Torah as the ultimate question and the absolute answer for every Jew, if only we are ready, willing, and able to accept it as such. The Torah in its simplicity and complexity presents us with a lifelong journey filled with questions, great and small. At the same time, the Torah offers us answers that can be clear and concise or subtle and sophisticated; equally obvious and maddeningly vague, often mundane and occasionally miraculous – and all in the same inspired and inspiring words and phrases. Nobody ever said Torah is easy; all we said is that it is important. In fact, nothing is more important.
In the new siddur, Mishkan T’filah, the Shabbat evening service contains a prayer just before the Shema, an excerpt of which resonates particularly for me. (p. 151)
“You meant the Torah for me: did You mean the struggle for me, too?
Don’t let me struggle alone; help me to understand, to be wise, to listen, to know…
Lead me into the mystery.”
The challenge for us is to keep struggling, to keep studying, to keep learning, to keep reaching out toward the Torah and its truth. In taking on that awesome responsibility, we connect through time with our brothers and sisters standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai clear across the generations to our own moment in time. Through Torah, we become part of the eternal chain forged by the Almighty, linking us to our ancestors, to our families, to one another and to our children and their children…forever. That infinite connection is what Torah means to me.
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