Hillel’s question is the eternal one. When? Frustrated, impatient, yearning, we ask “When?” knowing that, as the poet wrote, “Peace comes dropping slow,” the urgency of ending pain and suffering leads us anew to ask Hillel’s question – if not now?
The brief essays in this volume remind us that complacency is never the right choice. In every age the world has urged us to action, to create a better place with the tools God has given us. We are grateful to the past and responsible for the future. Our problems change, but they do not lessen. Indeed, in some ways the epochal scope of our challenge is greater than ever. In the flow of time we ponder anew – with all the needs to be fulfilled, if we do not begin the work now, there may not be a when. Wonder with us, work with us, be part of the necessity of now.
David Wolpe is the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi of Sinai Temple, Scholar in Residence of the Maimonides Fund and Rabbinic Fellow of ADL. facebook.com/RabbiWolpe
