הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא דִּי אֲכָלוּ אַבְהָתָנָא בְאַרְעָא דְמִצְרָיִם. כָּל דִכְפִין יֵיתֵי וְיֵיכֹל, כָּל דִצְרִיךְ יֵיתֵי וְיִפְסַח. הָשַּׁתָּא הָכָא, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בְּאַרְעָא דְיִשְׂרָאֵל. הָשַּׁתָּא עַבְדֵי, לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בְּנֵי חוֹרִין.
This is the bread of destitution that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is famished should come and eat, anyone who is in need should come and partake of the Pesach sacrifice. Now we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel; this year we are slaves, next year we will be free people.
אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק הַכֹּל בְּקִוּוּי, יִסּוּרִין בְּקִוּוּי, קְדֻשַּׁת הַשֵּׁם בְּקִוּוּי, זְכוּת אָבוֹת בְּקִוּוּי, תַּאֲוָתוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם הַבָּא בְּקִוּוּי.
Rabbi Yitzchak said everything through hope: [healing from] suffering, through hope; sanctity of God, through hope; merit of the forefathers, through hope; desire of the World to Come, through hope.
מאמרי ראי"ה - קודש וחול בתחית ישראל (מן עתון 'ההד', תרצ"א)
ביחס לתקוה המפעמת בלב כל יהודי מדור דור לישועה ולגאולה השתמשו חז"ל בביטוי 'צפיה'. שואלים לאדם 'צפית לישועה', ולא 'קוית'. צפיה היא מגזירת 'צפה'[1]. תפקיד הצופה להשתמש בכל מאורע שהוא להזהיר על תקלה ולעורר למפעל של ישועה. וכך עלינו להשתמש בכל המאורעות שבעולם, שעל ידם תוכל לבוא או לצמוח תשועה לישראל...
"The Holy and The Profane"
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
in the publication, Hahad,5691
Regarding the hope for salvation and redemption that beats in every Jew's heart from generation to generation, our rabbis used the term צפיה. A person is asked "did you hearken (צפיה) for salvation?" and not "did you hope". צפיה comes from the word "scout". The role of the scout is to use every occurrence to warn against problems and to awaken the undertaking of salvation. So it is upon us to make use of every occurrence in the world, for through them salvation for Israel can arrive or spring up.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“One of the most important distinctions I have learned in the course of reflection on Jewish history is the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope. Knowing what we do of our past, no Jew can be an optimist. But Jews have never – despite a history of sometimes awesome suffering – given up hope”
(יג) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר מָרְדֳּכַ֖י לְהָשִׁ֣יב אֶל־אֶסְתֵּ֑ר אַל־תְּדַמִּ֣י בְנַפְשֵׁ֔ךְ לְהִמָּלֵ֥ט בֵּית־הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ מִכָּל־הַיְּהוּדִֽים׃ (יד) כִּ֣י אִם־הַחֲרֵ֣שׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי֮ בָּעֵ֣ת הַזֹּאת֒ רֶ֣וַח וְהַצָּלָ֞ה יַעֲמ֤וֹד לַיְּהוּדִים֙ מִמָּק֣וֹם אַחֵ֔ר וְאַ֥תְּ וּבֵית־אָבִ֖יךְ תֹּאבֵ֑דוּ וּמִ֣י יוֹדֵ֔עַ אִם־לְעֵ֣ת כָּזֹ֔את הִגַּ֖עַתְּ לַמַּלְכֽוּת׃
(13) Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. (14) On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”
(כ) וַתִּקַּח֩ מִרְיָ֨ם הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֲח֧וֹת אַהֲרֹ֛ן אֶת־הַתֹּ֖ף בְּיָדָ֑הּ וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָ כָֽל־הַנָּשִׁים֙ אַחֲרֶ֔יהָ בְּתֻפִּ֖ים וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת׃
(20) Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels.
(א) ותקח מרים הנביאה. ... (ב) את התף. כְּלִי שֶׁל מִינֵי זֶמֶר: (ג) בתפים ובמחלת. מֻבְטָחוֹת הָיוּ צַדְקָנִיּוֹת שֶׁבַּדּוֹר שֶׁהַקָּבָּ"ה עוֹשֶׂה לָהֶם נִסִּים וְהוֹצִיאוּ תֻפִּים מִמִּצְרַיִם (מכילתא):
(1) ותקח מרים הנביאה AND MIRIAM THE PROPHETESS TOOK ... (2) את התף A TIMBREL — an instrument for a particular kind of music. (3) בתפים ובמחלת WITH TIMBRELS AND WITH DANCES — The righteous women in that generation were confident that God would perform miracles for them and they accordingly had brought timbrels with them from Egypt (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:20:2).
(ה) אָ֗ז תָּ֭בִין יִרְאַ֣ת ה' וְדַ֖עַת אֱלֹקִ֣ים תִּמְצָֽא׃
(5) Then you will understand the fear of the LORD And attain knowledge of God.
(ה) ויש על הבוטח בשם להוחיל במעוף צוקתו כי יהיה החשך סבת האורה. כמו שכתוב (מיכה ז׳:ח׳) אל תשמחי אויבתי לי כי נפלתי קמתי כי אשב בחשך ה' אור לי. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה אלמלא נפלתי לא קמתי אלמלא ישבתי בחשך לא היה אור לי. וכל איש ואיש ביום צר לו יתן לבו להבין ולהתענות עם התשובה והתפלה. כמו שהצבור חייבים לצום ולהתענות בעת צרתם כאשר תקנו חז"ל וזה צום נבחר ויום רצון. וכאשר יבא מוסר הש"י על האיש אשר הוא זך וישר יהיה לנסיון ולהגדיל שכרו לעולם הבא כמו שנאמר (דברים ח׳:ט״ז) למען ענותך ולמען נסותך להטיבך באחריתך. ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה פשפש במעשיו בעת צרתו וחפש וחקר ולא מצא חטא בידו הן הן יסורין של אהבה:
Rabbenu Yonah Gerondi
(Commenting on Proverbs 2:5)
(5) And one who trusts God should hold on during the vision of his distress; for the darkness will be the cause for the light - as it is written (Micah 7:8), "Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; since I have fallen, I rise again; since I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Midrash Tehillim 22), "If I had not fallen, I would not have risen; If I had not sat in darkness, the Lord would not have been my light." And every single person on the day of his trouble should put into his heart to understand and afflict himself, [together] with the repentance and prayer - just like the community is obligated to fast and afflict themselves at the time of their trouble, as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, ordained. And that fast day is chosen and is a day of acceptance. And when the rebuke of God, may He be blessed, comes to a man that is pure and straight, it becomes a test, and enhances his reward in the world to come - as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:16), "in order to test you by hardships only to benefit you in the end." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 5a), "[If] one searched his deeds at the time of his trouble, sought out and investigated, but did not find a sin - these are certainly afflictions of love."
נתיבות אמונה, עמ׳ קעח
והיינו שדוקא ע״י החושך והנפילה יהא ראוי לזכות להאור והישועה. הרי במקום להצטער ולהתייאשבמצבו החושך, יש להתחזק ולהתאמץ שהמצב הזה-גופא, יהא סיבת הישועה.
Netivot Emunah, Page 178
Sholom Noach Berezovsky (the Slonimer Rebbe)
(A supercommentary on the passage by Rabbenu Yonah above)
That is, the very darkness and downfall he is suffering with should themselves become the steps he can ascend towards a place of light and reconstruction. Instead of wallowing in sorrow and despair, let him take heart that this situation itself will be the catalyst for his deliverance.
Rabbi Sacks
...Human beings are the only life form capable of using the future tense. Only beings who can imagine the world other than it is, are capable of freedom. And if we are free, the future is open, dependent on us. We can know the beginning of our story but not the end. That is why, as He is about to take the Israelites from slavery to freedom, God tells Moses that His name is ‘I will be what I will be.’ Judaism, the religion of freedom, is faith in the future tense.
Western civilization is the product of two cultures: ancient Greece and ancient Israel. The Greeks believed in fate: the future is determined by the past. Jews believed in freedom: there is no ‘evil decree’ that cannot be averted. The Greeks gave the world the concept of tragedy. Jews gave it the idea of hope. The whole of Judaism – though it would take a book to show it – is a set of laws and narratives designed to create in people, families, communities and a nation, habits that defeat despair. Judaism is the voice of hope in the conversation of mankind.
It is no accident that so many Jews are economists fighting poverty, or doctors fighting disease, or lawyers fighting injustice, in all cases refusing to see these things as inevitable...
Judaism is a religion of details, but we miss the point if we do not sometimes step back and see the larger picture. To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair. Every ritual, every mitzvah, every syllable of the Jewish story, every element of Jewish law, is a protest against escapism, resignation or the blind acceptance of fate. Judaism is a sustained struggle, the greatest ever known, against the world that is, in the name of the world that could be, should be, but is not yet. There is no more challenging vocation. Throughout history, when human beings have sought hope they have found it in the Jewish story. Judaism is the religion, and Israel the home, of hope.