The Genesis Festival

Over the last several years, as the rosh bayit, somewhat of a cross between the president of college and the leader of an ashram, minus the salary of the first and the guru implications of the second, I have been invited to lea the opening ceremony of what is called the Genesis Festival. It is a wondrous gathering of some 25,000 people that takes place at the time of the Hebrew New Year. Several years ago we started a custom of blowing one hundred shofarot (ram's horns) accompanied by 360 drummers to bid farewell to the past as we usher in the future. In the middle of all this, I give a short talk, which is always the same.

“On the New Year, our tradition teaches that those who merit are inscribed in the Book of Life. A this moment, the universe is judging, who will live and who will die. Here at the Genesis Festival of love, we will not allow God or his angels that choice. We will not allow judgment to separate us from each other. So I ask each one of you to turn to the person next to you and say  --

“I refuse to be written in the Book of Life… without you!”

Thousands of people turn, and with pure love flowing from open hearts, they embrace the person next to them , and we all say together, “I refuse to be inscribed in the Book of Life without you!”

At this moment, I feel like we are in the Temple, in the inner sanctum of the Holy of Holies. It is worth being born just to experience these minutes. The people who attend these festivals and Bayiut Chadash give me great hope. They are the best in all of us They remind me that we can transform our world into something more!

Page 140, Mystery of Love, Marc Gafni