This Year’s Theme
5772 Theme
Our theme this year is Olamim, the Hebrew word for worlds. The root of this word is o-l-m.
Biblical scholars postulate that it comes from a cognate meaning “to hide or conceal.”
The ancient rabbis articulated that we exist on two planes or live in two worlds at once, one obvious and one more hidden. They talked about a yerushalayim shel ma’alah (Upper Jerusalem) and a yerushalayim shel matah (Lower Jerusalem).
They considered that our actions here in this world profoundly influence the larger spiritual picture.
Jewish wisdom may imagine a larger, more holistic place for us to situate our most sublime prayers and yearnings (Upper Jerusalem), but it is in this world (Lower Jerusalem), that we get the work done and push ourselves to make personal and social change. By living in this world more fully, we can see ourselves reaching beyond it, responding to yet another one, and creating hope.
