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Living with uncertainty - part three

Kol Nidrei 5772/2011

The story is told that when Solomon became king of Israel he had a ring made, upon which he had engraved the words gam zeh ya’avor – This too shall pass.

Gam zeh ya’avor. This too shall pass. An expression of the truth of life that is both saddening and liberating. Or, in the words of Abraham Lincoln when he told a version of this same story:  “This too shall pass. How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”

Gam zeh ya’avor. This too shall pass.

Everything about life is uncertain, except the certainty of change. Everything that we “have” will eventually and inevitably pass away. Slip through our fingers. And tightening our grip doesn’t make any difference; it only gives us rope burn....