Every year, on the first Friday in March, this Day is observed by women of all nationalities, colours and creeds, and this year the theme has been chosen by the women of Guyana. They have selected a very thought provoking theme: 'G-d's Wisdom Provides New Understanding'.
If we turn to the Internet, where this year's theme can be found under 'Women's World Day of Prayer', it is suggested that we turn to the Book of Exodus Chapter 20, to find out more of this Wisdom. Of course, this is the chapter in which the Ten Commandments are laid down.
Why is this theme so thought provoking? Because it is amazing how many laws and constitutions of countries and organisations around the world embrace these very commandments. In other words, they are the way in which the whole world should be aware of the rights of others, and how to behave in a socially and morally acceptable way, so that in a perfect world we do no harm to others, or they to us. In fact, because the ten commandments are laid down for everyone, their wisdom does what the women of Guyana suggest, that New Understanding is Provided.
Guests at the dinner. Back row: Desmond Sweke, chair, Bet David; Rabbi Dr Robert Ash, Temple Emanuel; Rabbi Robert Jacobs, Bet David; Reeva Foreman, chair, Temple Israel; Stan Abrahams, chair, Temple Emanuel.
Front row: Marilyn Trujillo, chair, United Sisterhoods; Steve Lurie, president, SAUPJ, Monica Solomons, president, SA Union of Temple Sisterhoods
In more modern times, the then President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson, presented the Covenant of the League of Nations as 'a document which is not a straightjacket, but a vehicle of life. It is a vehicle of power, but a vehicle in which power may be varied at the discretion of those who exercise it . And yet, while it is still elastic and while it is general in terms, it is definite in the one thing we are called upon to make definite .It is a definite guarantee of peace.' Of course, as we all know now, it was not a definite guarantee of peace. However, the reason that it did not work was that other people, who had their own agendas, refused to observe the rights of others, and of International Law. South Africa itself, has long struggled with the basic principles of justice.
AJP Taylor wrote 'In the state of nature which Hobbes imagined, violence was the only law, and life was nasty, short and brutish.' He further goes on to say 'men have not always acquiesced in the perpetual quadrille of the Balance Of Power, they have often wished the music would stop, and that they could sit out the dance without maintaining the ceaseless watch on each other.'
In other words, power, money and prestige are all too often the goals, instead of the observation of the commandments and the law, which do observe the rights of everyone. This takes me right back to the beginning of this thought provoking theme,'G-d's Wisdom provides new understanding'.
I am sure many of us have asked the question, 'why is this happening to me or perhaps, to someone else?' We should then realize that in the larger picture, every single living thing is all part of creation, G-d's plan, but sometimes we do not always think clearly about either our actions, or those of others, and that is when things start to go wrong. Instead of behaving towards others in the way which we were taught, we are ignoring his commandments, and his wisdom. Perhaps not on purpose, but through the absence of clear thinking, or through the desire for self promotion.
And so, I leave you with this thought provoking idea, 'How can we make this world a better place for all, which is what was entrusted to Moses, all those thousands of years ago?'
Stalwarts of the Sisterhood at the Women's Day dinner. Seated on the floor: Marcelle Meisel and Gail Rogaly. First Row: Marilyn Trujillo, Mercia Kailisky, Ellen Appleton, Peggy Ross-Wilson and Ruth Leveson. Second Row: Myrna Margo, Pam Mintz, Ann Marx, Cynthia Duchen, Henna du Plessis, Monica Sololmon and Cynthia Rosen. Back Row: Ashley Sweke, Lali Gerber, Gail Sheuble and Belinda Katz.
