In Judaism, hope is not simply a fleeting emotion or a gentle wish for better times.
Rather, it is something far deeper: a discipline of the spirit, almost a sacred obligation.
The Hebrew word tikvah, which means hope, is rooted in the idea of connection and binding, as if hope ties us to a future we cannot yet see, but stubbornly trust will come.
Throughout Jewish history, hope has been more than comfort.
Hope has been a form of spiritual resistance.
Hope sustained our ancestors through centuries of exile and dispersion, through oppression and unimaginable horrors.
In the ghettos, work and concentration camps, people continued to whisper ancient prayers and sing melodies that yearned for Jerusalem, for freedom, for a world redeemed.
To keep hoping was to refuse to let despair have the final word.
And that’s why, for Jews, hope is profoundly realistic, not naïve.
We know suffering.
We know that the world can be cruel, unjust and shatteringly painful.
But we also know that history can and does bend, sometimes painfully slowly, toward return and renewal.
Even the national anthem of the modern State of Israel is called Hatikvah, The Hope; a name that proclaims the unbroken line of longing that carried us from biblical times to today.
Hope becomes, therefore, a sacred duty; not just for ourselves, but for the world.
When we affirm hope, we not only bind ourselves to the possibility that tomorrow can be better, but we also commit to helping bring that tomorrow about.
In the face of injustice, tikvah drives us to act, to mend, to repair.
It is hope that fuels our work for tikkun olam, the healing of our broken world.
For an interfaith community, this Jewish view of hope offers a powerful invitation: to see hope not as passive waiting but as an ethical stance, a courageous choice.
It challenges us to cultivate hope like a garden, even when the soil is rocky.
As Hatikvah so simply and powerfully declares: “Od lo avdah tikvatenu”, “Our hope is not yet lost.”
May none of us ever lose hope for a better, more peaceful world.
May we all carry this hope forward, as both torch and tool, to shape a tomorrow worthy of our highest dreams for our children, grandchildren and future generations.
Enquiries regarding the Interfaith Network, City of Greater Dandenong: administration@interfaithnetwork.org.au or 8774 7662.
Visit interfaithnetwork.org.au
