As we begin to count down to the secular New Year — and with Chanukah just behind us and Tu B’Shevat not far in the distance — it is a good time to take stock of the Jewish holidays we celebrate each year.
Some holidays are commanded in the Torah itself. Thus, we are told to observe the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot.
Other holidays are post-Torah and derive from our historical experience as a people. Chanukah, for example, commemorates an incident that occurred in 165 B.C.E. Purim, though historically less certain, is said to recount a story of salvation that occurred in Persia in the Fourth or Fifth Century B.C.E.
Two of our most recently created commemorations, Yom HaShoah and Yom HaAtzmaut, were established by legislation to memorialize significant events in our collective recent history.
In 1949, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) created Yom HaAtzmaut to celebrate the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. In 1955, the same body established a permanent day for commemorating the Holocaust that befell our people in the first half of the 20th Century. (In fact, the Knesset has the ability to change the days on which these holidays are observed, as it did last year with Yom HaAtzmaut.)
It may be that today — a time of insecurity, violence, and frustration — we need a new holiday. Perhaps it is time to institute a new structure through which we can express our collective feelings of unease and meld our voices together in a plea for a more secure future.
I would, therefore, like to suggest that we institute a holiday of peace — Yom HaShalom, a day on which all Jews will be encouraged to recite selections from the many prayers, psalms and blessings through which the Jewish people have for millennia implored God to grant peace to us and to all humankind.
While it is true that we already recite prayers for peace during weekday and Shabbat services, many of us rush through these daily recitations, giving little thought to what we are saying.
Nothing focuses the mind as wonderfully as a holiday with its own ritual, foods, melodies and liturgy. If that’s what it will take to focus our minds on peace, it’s well worth the effort.
We wouldn’t have far to look for liturgy. We are told in the Bible to seek peace and pursue it; prayers for peace abound in the siddur (prayer book); and we greet each other with the word shalom. It is a key concept, a primary value, in our tradition.
Each of the Jewish streams could provide its members with a collection of readings to recite while sitting at work, attending to various errands or during a meditative lunch hour. Chances are, many of us already say brief, private prayers for peace when we hear of the latest terrorist bombings or military campaigns.
As part of this new observance, we might commit ourselves to see a movie or read a book about efforts to achieve peace. We might also attend lectures and participate in gatherings that pay tribute to seekers of peace in our time, with attendees encouraged to bring in the names of people they feel are worthy of emulation.
Still, real peace requires concrete initiatives. It is too easy for any one person to regard a contribution to peacemaking as being beyond his or her grasp.
On Yom HaShalom, each Jew should feel inspired to make a meaningful contribution to one of the many organizations that work to foster peace.
Of equal importance must be the realization that universal peace can only evolve from small — and sometimes seemingly insignificant — peace initiatives. Harmony between individuals becomes the foundation for peace between civilizations.
To truly actualize Yom HaShalom, let each of us reach out to at least one person with whom we currently experience some tension or enmity and make a good faith effort to improve relations.
If the holiday catches on, we can share it with our neighbors, inviting others to join us in affirming the value of peace. In this way, we will truly serve as an or l’goyim, a light unto the nations.
Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein is executive vice-president of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the organization of Conservative congregations in North America.
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