When Dreams Are Life

In Deborah Hautzig's Second Star to the Right, she tells the tale of a daughter who follows her mother to the left - to death - in Auschwitz. The book really focuses on the next generation, in New York, and anorexic Leslie Hiller's struggle with the implications for living wholly. In the end, she chooses life: "second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning." The book was first published in 1981, and I read it then for the first of many, many times...but it is only today that I take note of the allusion to Peter Pan. Disney does a good job of paying attention, though:

Note that the song talks about dreams coming true. For the anorexic choosing health means recognizing that she has dreams to live for. Something to keep her going.

This season - the ten days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur - are about choosing life. The traditional holiday wish - כתיבה וחתימה טובה - is a prayer that we be "written and inscribed for good." In human terms, "good" means life - rather, that, by the end of Yom Kippur, we should be sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year.

Rabbi Zalman Levine, M.D., in his article, "On Fertility and Faith" (look for the article here), writes that the world approaches the Day of Judgement that is Rosh Hashanah with a need to reflect on our relationship with God on three planes: the biological (that's plain old simple physical existence - that is neither all that plain nor old nor simple); the metaphysical (let's say that's the essential individual way we connect to God - via soul or spirituality, or however you like to articulate it); and the communal (no Jew is an island, and the even as individuals, we approach God with the connection as a member of the Jewish People). Rabbi Levine considers these aspects of relationship in the context of those who are infertile, and understands the day all the better because of its connection to the prayer of the biblical Chana, perhaps the most articulate barren woman in the Bible. But in extrapolating from her to everyone, let's consider that she had a dream that she wouldn't relinquish. She could envision the future - and she wanted to bring her dream to pass.

When we do teshuvah and repent in this season of judgement and forgiveness, we choose life. We inherently dream, as we recognize our potential to be better people. We envision the future - and want to bring the better to pass. Not for nothing is the Torah called תורת חיים - a Living Torah. Or alternatively, a Torah of Life. Our personal reforms deepen our relationship with God on all the planes....and our re-dedication to living a life of Torah is an affirmation of our dreams...as we seek the future.