Some people pine for the simple life – a ‘sea-change’ from
the hustle and bustle of modern living. On one hand, you might say that we are
living in a ‘golden age’ for Judaism: there are many countries in the world
where Jews can enjoy religious freedom of expression, there is a wealth of
scholarship available in both nigleh and chassidus, and in
general humankind has more leisure time than ever before. And yet, with all
this opportunity before us, modern life is just so ‘full’ and busy it’s often a
challenge to find the time to feed our souls.
Does it make sense to pine for an earlier time, when live
was simple and Chassidim would spend hours learning or meditating before an
even longer time davening? But would anyone want to live in those times,
when Jews were persecuted and poverty was rife?
