<HTML>There has been some discussion on this list concerning the turn of the
century.
The following was posted on CrossCurrents: A Journal of Torah and Current
Affairs. I thought it would be of interest to those in Jewish Education.
It is hard to imagine a better response to the significance of the
Millennium to Jews, than this piece from the December issue of Hadassah
Magazine (http://www.hadassah.org/news/pubfrm2.htm). Eleven people (ten of
them Jews) were asked for their thoughts on the event that is now upon
us. This is what NY Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote:
I must admit to a measure of bemused bewilderment at being asked to
expound upon the meaning of the new millennium to the Jewish
people. While I know the editors of Hadassah Magazine plan ahead, I
was surprised to be asked to explore the import of the Seventh
Millennium, which Jewish friends inform me is still 240 years in the
future. On reflection, I realize that a mere quarter of a millennium
means a lot less to your readers than it does to most Americans. The
cycle of your holidays and the rhythm of your rituals echo events that
took place two or three thousand years ago. Your very organization is
named after a young Jewish woman who was taken to the court of a
Persian king several centuries before the common era and whose heroism
is still celebrated every year during the Purim holiday. Why then
should the advent of a new millennium as reckoned on either the
secular or sacred calendar have a particular import on a people
blessed with timeless continuity and a seamless communal memory? Why
indeed?
Thanks to Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom</HTML>
