Baseball, like its British cousin cricket, is a game that has no time clock. There is no arbitrary time limit to any game. The game is played until it ends no matter how long that takes. The other major American sports – football, soccer, basketball and hockey – are all governed by an unforgiving clock that limits the length of the contest and even some of the plays within that time period.

 

The pressure of the ever-present declining time to play, forces enormous pressure on the players and makes the spectators as tense as the players. Watching such a game – governed by the clock – is rarely a relaxing event. None of this applies to a baseball game – a game always played at a gentlemanly pace, with major pauses in the game and action.

 

Though it is great game of individual skill and has its own mysteries, nuances and physical athleticism, it is mainly a game of grace, precision or, as it famously calls itself “a game of inches.” To a great extent it may have been replaced by football as the national sport but it still draws tens of millions of people to its long seasons and many teams. It still is the family game and I believe that is partially due to its untimed nature. Patience brings well-being and a sense of serenity even when your favorite team loses. Just root for the Chicago teams and you will understand what I mean.

 

So, you will impatiently ask, what does all of this have to do with Judaism, the Jewish people and any semblance of serious and lasting thought? And I respond, that it has a great deal to do with the Jewish and Torah view of the world and of faith. One of the basic lessons of Judaism is how to be patient with time and events.

 

We have been patient for many, many centuries, waiting for the opportunity to return to the Land of Israel and to national independence and sovereignty. Every time limits were placed on the arrival of redemption and on the beginning stages of the messianic era, disappointment, if not even national disaster, occurred.

 

There are no time limits ever placed on Jewish destiny. We will never run out of time because Judaism is playing an untimed game. By placing arbitrary time limits on our dreams, hopes and visions demeans them and exposes them to false assessments and judgments. Time limits sap our energy and paradoxically the pressures engendered by time limits often lower our efficiencies and abilities. Judaism always emphasizes tomorrow over today. Our father Jacob insisted that “tomorrow I will arrive at my reward.” And that remains the Jewish view of life generally.

 

We constantly hear others warning us here in Israel that time is not on our side. I have never understood the basis for that statement as regarding the Jewish people and the State of Israel. If anything, time is in our favor since there is no time limit to our game. An objective view of the story of the Jews in the Land of Israel over the past century will confirm this viewpoint.

 

There were six thousand Jews present here in 1900 while there are well over six million Jews present here now. Our challenges and difficulties remain as great as ever but there is no reason for us to fear what tomorrow will yet bring. In the game of baseball, the game is famously not over until it is over. Having outlasted our countless enemies over the long story of civilization, it is undoubtedly reasonable to expect the same result regarding our current adversaries. Since there is no time limit to our contest we have to dig in for the long run and be patient to exploit the opportunities that will somehow always present themselves.

 

It should be clear to all by now that there are no instant solutions and no magical peace processes available. So, we can only continue to build and develop our homeland and, as in the days of Nechemia, keep one hand on the spear and the other hand on the brick trowel. There is no time limit to this game.

 

Shabat shalom

 

Berel Wein