Yom Kippur Eve
Hope or Trust?
Jeremy Rosen
We approach Yom Kippur with both negative and positive emotions. Never more so than this year. For the past with its terrors and errors. And for the future, life or death? The hope is much used and misused. Would optimism not be a more productive emotion?
As any translator knows it’s almost impossible to translate words of emotion and abstraction from one culture to another or within a culture given that words often change their meanings and connotations.
I’ve been thinking about this a great deal this past week in the lead-up to Yom Kippur, but also, of course, in this horrible time in our history. Between what the secular date of October the 7th and we call Simchat Torah, the last day of Sukot a year ago and today, we have gone from panic, anxiety, horror at unimaginable evil, to a loss of confidence and trust in people who we thought we could rely on. And more than that, questioning the promises that God is looking out for us, and will protect us. To a sense of relief at surviving, regrouping, and fighting enemies determined to exterminate us. From the comfortable illusion of security to realising how vulnerable we are. And from the illusion that antisemitism had been contained, to the realization that it has exploded with religious, socialist and fascist intense hatred.
Each one of us responds in a different way, religiously or secularly. Humans are not all the same, of course, but I want to respond linguistically. We have been told time and again to have hope. But what exactly does that mean? And how are we to find it in such a dark hour?
Our national anthem is called the Hatikvah. It is based on a nineteenth-century poem by Naftali Herz Imber, which was turned into an anthem by Samuel Cohen and formally accepted as the state anthem in 1933. The word Hatikvah literally translates as The Hope. It is not used at all in the Torah itself despite all the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that despite the ordained suffering of the Israelites they would survive, thrive and come back time and time again. But it is used repeatedly by the Psalms and later prophets, with regard to the future of our people and expressing hope or confidence or trust ( all and more are possible English translations) in God even if we cannot predict or guarantee how God may or may not intervene in human affairs.
The Latin translations of the word Tikvah in Mandelkern Concordance offers spes, hope, or funis (a chord, as in umbilical that connects us). But also, confidare, expectare, insidiari. Confidence, expectation, to wait for something
Ezekiel sitting in exile in Babylonia wrote “The House of Israel says we have lost hope” and yet we are praying for a return to the land of Israel (Ezekiel 37:11). Whereas Jeremiah says, “ There is hope” (Jeremiah17:13). And every year from the beginning of the month of Ellul, twice a day we have been saying Psalm 27 which ends “Have hope in God, have hope in God.” But the Hebrew is Kaveh El Hashem rather than Kaveh BaShem. We should translate it Hope TO God, not hope IN God. A big difference. IN is limited, either you have it, or you don’t. To is directional. Something to aspire to. Hatikvah was used by the later prophet Zecharia (9:12) who witnessed the return of Jews from Babylonia, but he used it about “prisoners of hope.”
Another word seems to me to be more powerful and relevant. It is Batach, to trust, have confidence in, to be secure. Amongst its many uses in the prophets, my favorite is from Isaiah (26: 3) “ The confident man trusts you to bring peace and (4 :4). “Have confidence or trust in God forever.” Psalms (115:9 ) calls on Israel to trust God.
I prefer trust and optimism to hope. Hope can be used in many different ways that express feelings but without necessary actions or consequences. Some are trivial like, “I hope to win the lottery.” Others more significant “I hope my child does well in school.” Or I hope my wife ( or whoever) will forgive me.” Referring to specific events. Hope can be ephemeral. It can be desperate. Optimism on the other hand gives one confidence, a way to go forward that requires action or at least self -persuasion and conviction. Yes, optimism is a relatively modern word, but I think it expresses something deeper and more complex. One word is active, the other passive.
At this moment we need optimism much more than hope. I don’t want our soldiers to hope things will work out. I want them to have the optimism, the faith that they will survive and be victorious. And even if some sadly fall, their deaths will contribute to the ultimate victory. We may not know yet when this will happen or how. But our history should give us the confidence that if the individual in Israel does not survive, the people will.
Jacob was told to change his name to Israel “ Because you will struggle with God and man and overcome ( Genesis 32:29). That’s where our name comes from. That we would eternally be in a state of conflict whether spiritual or physical with the world around us. We can trust that in the long run we will survive as we always have. And even if that is little comfort to the person in Auschwitz about to die, or our hostages in hell, it is a reassurance that in the long run all is not lost.
We live in two worlds, the universe and ourselves. Our task is to live as best we can. And optimism is a better tool than hope. We pray for life, not death.
Fast well, Gemar Tov, and peace for Israel.
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.
