Watchman, What of the Night? One of the most mysterious calls in the Book of Isaiah appears in these words: “Watchman, what of the night?Watchman, what of the night?”— Isaiah 21:11 Someone calls from Seir to the watchman and asks: Where are we in the course of the night? How much of it has already passed? When will morning come? This is a question a person asks precisely when surrounded by darkness. He does not merely want to know the time. He wants to know whether the darkne

Three Paths of Teshuvah On the eve of Yom Kippur, we are accustomed to speaking of teshuvah as the possibility of returning. To repair what we have damaged. To ask forgiveness from those we have hurt. To restore something to its proper place. But what happens when it is no longer possible to return? Can there still be repair? There are things that can be repaired, and there are things that cannot. As Ecclesiastes says: “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lac

From Judgment to Joy: Recreating the World after the Rupture Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment. It confronts us with our responsibility—to ourselves, to the Jewish people, to the world, and before the Holy One, blessed be He. This year, judgment takes on a special meaning. The events of the past three years have shaken fundamental certainties: our sense of security, our trust in institutions, our perception of the unity of the Jewish people, and our hope that reason might