Dear Friends,
This Friday, on Simchat Torah, Jews in synagogues around the world - Orthodox, Conservative or Masorti, Reform, and Reconstructionist alike - will be dancing with the Torah scrolls of their congregations. This is one of the happiest, most meaningful moments of the Jewish year when we rejoice in our spiritual heritage.
This is as it should be, because the Torah was given to the Jewish people as a whole, and it belongs to all Jews, whether observant or secular, whether haredi, modern-orthodox or liberal. The Torah is the ultimate symbol of Jewish unity.
The same is true of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and of the Land of Israel as a whole. Just as all generations of the Jewish people stood together at Sinai, may all Jews today see one another as equal members of one people, and respect each others's differences just as we value and need each other's strengths.
Chag Sameach!
Ronald S. Lauder
