President's Message

There is an old saying… The third time is a charm. Perhaps in my case it has taken me three times to get it right. And right now, it feels right.

According to Jewish law, once something is done three times it is considered a permanent thing. This is called a “chazakah,” a presumption of ownership, presumption of status. Let’s say you decide to take on a new task. If you do it once and succeed — it’s beginner’s luck. A second time—still beginner’s luck. If you return for a third time, then you can be trusted, that you have the experience, and perhaps you know what you’re doing.

It is also said that the number three represents permanence. That’s why we do things in threes, it adds strength, memory to our acts. (Many prayers are repeated three times; the Lulav is waved three times in each direction; etc.) From a Kabbalistic perspective, we know that three is the number of peace and integration. The number two symbolizes duality, difference, division—right vs. left, giving vs. restraint.

Three actually merges the two to create a new entity, Three, which represents the harmonious integration of one and two. That’s Kol Rinah.

The Talmud points out that the Torah was given in the third month of the Jewish year, to a people that has three groups (Kohen, Levites, Israelites), and through Moses, who was the third child in his family (after Miriam and Aharon). The (Written) Torah itself is made up of three portions: the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings. Torah is the manual for peace. It teaches how to integrate body and soul, the physical world with its spiritual source. It is "the third" entity, the one that unites the other two.