Masters of Time

By Michael Fuah

People whose entire lives are bound to the pressures of time, work or society - people who have never savored the taste of true redemption - will have a hard time understanding the Torah's innovative message to the Nation of Israel, "This month is for you the head of all months." Just as a blind person cannot sense the depth in blue, the storm in red and the serenity in white, so the servant of time cannot sense the feeling of redemption when one controls time.

"This month is for you -" time is now in your hands. You can work with it and sanctify it. The Nation of Israel is commanded to sanctify the material world; to build the Sanctuary in the desert and the holy Temple in the Land of Israel. It is this same sanctity that we are commanded to create in the most spiritual element of the material world comprehensible to the human mind - time. This freedom is Israel's unique message to humanity.

The Jewish Nation's message of freedom to the world is actually the message of Manhigut Yehudit to the Nation of Israel. It is the message of leadership that believes in G-d and strives to develop its national identity so that we may truly be a light unto the nations. Manhigut Yehudit means leadership that is unafraid of the Supreme Court and the state prosecution that sanctify the rule of law above all else. It means leadership that is not fearful of public-opinion-makers in the media, academia and arts. It means leadership free of the shackles of Western morals that aggrandize the weak, leadership that sanctifies justice and liberty and strives to perfect the world in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jewish leadership is not a luxury. It is a necessity for the Nation of Israel. And that is why it will become reality.

Shabbat Shalom