On Friday during the Simchat Torah service we finished reading the Torah and in the same breath began to read it anew. Today we commence the first year of the Triennial cycle. And the world has hardly changed.
Oh, if we look at the world through the prism of science, we have come a long way. We can conquer some disease, produce more food than ever before; we can harness the atom; we can fly, sail and travel on land faster than any other animal. We can bring daylight to the night and night to the daylight. We have walked on the moon and have sent machines to walk on Mars. We know more about the world than any people at any time in history.
However, if we look at the world through the prism of Torah, we have hardly advanced. We have learned to kill people with greater efficiently and in greater number. More people are involved in war than ever before. More people go to bed hungry than ever before. We have not yet figured out how to destroy cycles of poverty.
We are larger in number, and so the problems before us are that much larger. If people suffered at the time of the Exodus, more people suffer today. If people were hungry then, more people are hungry today. If people were sick then, more people are sick today. If we showed little concern for the disenfranchised then, we show less concern today.
But at least we begin the Torah in a timely manner. The Torah does not let problems go away. IT does not allow us to forget suffering or the issue of a sustainable planet. The essence of Torah continues to prod us to solve problems that beset all people.
As long as we recognize that we must begin and begin Torah until the End of Days, we have recognized that sense of Godliness that makes us a religious people.