I Believe: A Poem
Please remember, contestants, to phrase your answer in the form of a question.
—Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy!™
I believe with a perfect faith in the coming of the messiah, though he may tarry.
—Late medieval reformulation of Maimonides’ 12th Principle of Faith, Commentary to the Mishna, Sanhedrin, Perek Helek.
In the days of the Messiah, each individual will perfect his soul to its root, and the holy sparks will ascend from their husks, which will become entirely null.
—Restatement of a key doctrine of Lurianic Kabbalah by R. Kalonymus Kalman Epstein (1753–1825).
I believe, with a perfect faith, that the messiah will
be a Jeopardy champion,
whose answers, phrased as questions, will raise sparks of memory
from husks of forgetfulness,
and return us to ourselves.
Suggested Reading
Emancipation and Its Discontents
How a small, marginal community of Moravian Jews grappled with the challenges modernization and secularization brought to European Jewry.
Prospects for American Judaism
A new book traces the path of American Jews from participation to affiliation.
The Christian Road to Jerusalem
Looking back on the clash of civilizations.
Poisoned Gefilte Fish, Broken Heart
In a characteristic turn of phrase, Der Nister wrote that the realization of the possibility of a land for Jews, where they lived under their own sovereignty would be a “brokhe af doyres” (blessing for future generations). The bitter irony is almost unbearable.
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