Rabbi’s Corner – Auld Lang Syne Edition

Dear Friends,
Every New Years, just after the clock turns 12:00am, everyone sings the old Scottish poem “Auld Lang Syne.” Written in by Robert Burns in 1788, the poem begins with a rhetorical question if we should remember what could be translated as “the good old days.” While most are likely too intoxicated to sing let alone remember the rest of the song, but it continues with reminiscing of past experiences, not coincidentally involving alcohol.

While Judaism is certainly a religion which incorporates its past, it appears to discourage mere nostalgia. Kohelet 7:10 states, “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions” and even in our darkest hour after the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Yirmiyahu does not long for the past but prays to “renew our days as of old” (Eicha 5:21) – thinking towards the future.

The difference between reminiscing and remembering is obvious; in the former we live in the past while in the latter we learn from it to live in the present and future. May we take the lessons we’ve learned in 2010 and use them for our journey in 2011!

Rabbi Josh Yuter