To know that life is full of dangers and yet to affirm them, to feel the full uncertainty of one's situation and yet to be happy: in my eyes this is the essence of faith. Judaism is not a comforting illusion, as if everything is fine in our gloomy world. Judaism is the courage to celebrate in the heart of uncertainty. When will Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world, be the judgment day? What is the deep reason for the excitement surrounding the breaking of vows, an apparent legal procedure, at the start of Yom Kippur? Could it be that the gloomy book of Ecclesiastes, which is read on the holiday of Sukkot, is actually the happiest book in the Bible? Is the exodus from Egypt noted at Pesach the first exodus from Egypt? What about the song of songs and politics? And what is the true focus of the holiday of Shavuot - the Torah or the land?
