Mike Leven’s 2021 Rosh Hashanah Message

I think it’s most important to use the holiday period to ask yourself and your family members some serious questions. Some of them may sound alike. What is your commitment to the future of the Jewish people? What is your knowledge and commitment to the state of Israel? What do you feel about the United States of America, where Jews have been free for longer than anywhere else and have thrived? How can I be a part of ensuring that we will not be the last Jewish generation here or elsewhere? Can we use this family time not only to take days off but make them a time to discuss our legacy to those that have gone before and to those who will come? Lastly, a personal story. I was raised in an apartment in Boston with immigrant grandparents and my parents. My grandfather was a VP of a small Orthodox shul. My parents sent me to the Conservative temple. Both were in walking distance, but I had a special responsibility on the High Holy Days. My job was to carry my grandmother’s siddur to the shul for her because the tradition was that she could not carry anything heavy. It was not a job but a duty of love! Please ask yourselves at this time: Who will carry the siddur in the next generation and the generations to come? Shana Tova.

Mike Leven is the founder of the Jewish Future Pledge.

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