Renewal

I'm a new man.

I don't mean that in the sense of feeling refreshed or invigorated or anything like that. On Sunday night, I'm celebrating the 8th anniversary of my moving to Israel. And according to what I've heard, every cell in the human body dies and is regenerated over the course of seven years. Well, seven years have passed already, so I am literally a new man; the Yoni Berg who stepped off an El Al plane eight years ago is no longer here. So what happened to him?

The second verse in the Torah that discusses Noah (Gen. 6:9) says something pretty interesting. It reads: "These are the offspring of Noah, Noah the righteous man who was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God." Now, the beginning of the verse says we're going to hear about Noah's offspring. But where are they? It just gives us a description of Noah! But if you read it correctly, it does tell us about Noah's offspring. His offspring was Noah the Righteous Man. Because he "walked with God," he changed himself from plain ol' Noah to Noah the Righteous Man. He changed. He recreated himself. He became a new man.

Now, I'm not saying I'm a righteous man. I'm not even saying I'm plain ol' Noah. But I have changed in the short time I've lived here. Not a complete personality overhaul, but change nonetheless.

I liked Israel before I came here. Now I love it with a passion. I used to enjoy learning a little Torah here and there. Now I crave it. When I lived in the US, I understood certain ideas about God. Now I know they're not mere ideas, but fundamental truths. These are just a few of the many changes I've had since moving to Israel. I'm sure any of the readers who know me could list many more.

But this isn't just another anniversary. Well, it is, but it's a special one since it's my 8th. In Judaism, numbers have interesting meanings. 7 represents nature and human understanding (7 days in a week, 7 weeks in the Omer counting, 7 years in a Shmittah cycle, 7 Shmittot in a Yovel cycle, etc.) But 8 represents what's beyond that. 8 represents the supernatural, that which our minds cannot grasp (e.g. a Brit, which makes no logical sense, is performed on the 8th day; the tactically inexplicable victory of the Jews over the Greeks is celebrated by an 8-day holiday, etc.) *see below

There's another meaning to the number 8, and this one's my favorite: Renewal. The 8th day of creation was the first day of the new week. The 8th day after a family sits Shiva for a lost one is the day they rejoin the rest of the world. 8 means starting over. 8 means re-creation. I hope I can use my 8th aliversary as an opportunity to become a better "offspring" than the Yoni that came here. And if not, I have another 8 years to try again. And 8 after that, and 8 after that....







*The only notable exception to this is in the movie There's Something About Mary, in which it is brought down that 8-minute abs are a rational idea, while 7-minute abs are a bit far-fetched. Don't even ask about 6-minute abs. (You won't even get your heart goin', not even a mouse on a wheel!)