Days of Awe, Uncertainty, and Good Deeds

“For many Jews in North America this year, the awe felt during the Days of Awe contains a greater measure of fear and trepidation than usual. ‘Who will perish by fire, and who by water . . . who by earthquake and who by plague . . . who will be at peace and who will be troubled?’ The High Holiday liturgy reminds us, if reminder is needed in 2017, that uncertainty is our lot as human beings. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have had to make fateful calculations in the past few days or weeks about whether it was better to flee from the approaching hurricane or find local shelter. Tales abound of Floridians from the East Coast fleeing west to escape the brunt of the storm, only to travel farther or turn back when the forecast changed. Their uncertainty in the face of disaster echoed that of the 800,000 Americans whose future has been unsettled by the recently announced end to the DACA program. ‘Who will be impoverished, and who enriched; who will be brought low, and who raised up? But repentance, prayer, and good deeds have the power to avert the evil of the decree.'”

Days of Awe, Uncertainty, and Good Deeds on the chancellor’s blog, On My Mind