Don Quixote - Rosh Hashanah 5774
This past August, Nathaniel & I had the pleasure and good fortune to join the Kesher Tour of Spain. Joined by 32 congenial others, including 4 teenagers, and led by our extraordinary and incredibly gifted guide, Dr. Rabbi Yitzhak Askof (יצחק אסקוף), it was a tour we will long remember.
Yitzhak, born in Aleppo, Syria, crossed the border with his family into Israel in 1957 at the age of 9, all with forged passports. His mother continually exhorted him to study. Heeding her advice, he earned a Ph.D. from NYU, with a specialty in medieval Arabic manuscripts written with Hebrew letters .
He received s`micha (rabbinic ordination) from Ovadia Yoseph, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel. Yitzhak additionally holds many other important distinctions.
The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, a period of Muslim rule throughout much of the Iberian Peninsula.
During this time, there did exist a modicum of coexistence among Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
Numerous influential members of the Jewish community lived and flourished in Spain during the Golden Age, including physicians, astronomers, mathematicians and rabbinic interpreters.
The major Jewish presence in Spain continued until the Jews were forcibly expelled, in what is known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición Española), which was established in 1478 by the Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
Jews fled to Portugal, Italy and North Africa (mainly to Morocco).
Portugal expelled its Jews in 1496.
During our tour, in addition to covering areas rich in Spanish culture, including the famed Gaudi architecture in Barcelona, and the Prado Museum in Madrid, we covered many of the extinct Jewish Quarters. Former synagogues have subsequently been converted into churches. Today, there is a small Jewish presence existing in the larger cities.
We visited Toledo and environs, where Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616), lived. Cervantes was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright, who wrote Don Quixote, which became a world classic, and was the basis for the popular musical, Man of La Mancha.
In this show, the actor, Richard Killey, sang The Impossible Dream, the stirring lyrics having been written by Joe Darion. Nathaniel & I saw the original Broadway production of Man of LaMancha in 1965, and left the theater singing the words to this song, which I would like to share with you. If we could only join forces, maybe then we could make this dream possible!
To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ...
This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...
And I know if I`ll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie, will lie peaceful and calm,
when I`m laid to my rest ...
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach ... the unreachable star ...
This year, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins on Wednesday evening, September 4. It is the Holy Day that we of the Jewish faith believe to be the time when God judges the entire world.
My prayers this Rosh Hashanah will include many of the aspirations expressed in The Impossible Dream, to make ours a better world. This is what I try to do in each and every presentation. If all of us, joined by hundreds of millions worldwide, turn these words into action, we can and will make ours a better world.
Nathaniel & I wish you and your family a Shana Tova u`Metukah - a good and sweet year, in a world of love and peace!
Fondly
Marion
PS - Nathaniel`s photo of the windmills might have been the very one with which Don Quixote tilted!