Wishing for peace on Earth

What's on your Christmas/holiday wish this year?

This past year has given us much to think about. On a personal level, we all experienced our individual triumphs and sorrows. History, however, will record this year as one where people across the world tried to recover from one massive disaster after another, such as the Asian tsunami that struck in the final days of last year, hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquakes that struck in Iran and Pakistan. The magnitude of these events and the loss of life, not to mention damage to property, are simply unbelievable.

As a rabbi, I'm often asked to explain natural disasters and I find it very hard to do so. To explain why evil people perpetrate horrific crimes is straightforward -- it is simply a case of man exercising his freedom of choice. How do we explain an act of God when there is massive destruction?

The answer is we shouldn't spend our time trying to figure out why people are suffering, we should instead roll up our shirt-sleeves and do all that we can to alleviate the suffering.

So, as we approach the year 2006, my prayer is that humanity should suffer no more.

I would like to paraphrase a Jewish prayer, over 2,500 years old, which the high priest would recite on Yom Kippur in the ancient temple of Jerusalem:

"May it be your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that this coming year shall be for us and for all people, wherever they are, a year of light; a year of blessing; a year of rejoicing; a year of glory; a year of good assembly; a year of song; a year of delight, a year of goodness, a year of Deliverance; a year of sustenance; a year of learning; a year of tranquillity; a year of comfort; a year of joy; a year of exultation; a year of redemption; a year of jubilation; a year that we may hold our head high; a year of acceptance of our prayers; a year goodwill; a year of plenty; a year of good life. "

Above all, I wish for peace, lasting peace for all mankind.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Center

I wish that the war in Iraq would come to an end and we could bring our troops home. In my last sermon of 2002, before we invaded Iraq, I said it would be a happy new year for me if we did not go to war. My position hasn't changed; I want that war to end, and the sooner we leave there, the better.