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From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:

听

When you examine how people made moral points in the ancient world, it was always by stories. That鈥檚 how people learn- and it鈥檚 a great way to teach, too. We Jews celebrated the New Year for trees last week, and there鈥檚 a great story associated with that: 鈥淥ne day, a man called Honi was travelling along a road and saw a man plating a carob tree. 鈥淗ow long before this tree bears fruit?鈥� he asked. 鈥淪eventy years,鈥� replied the man. Honi said: 鈥滱re you sure you鈥檒l live another 70 years?鈥� The man replied: "When I entered the world, I found carob trees already bearing fruit. Just as my ancestors planted them for me, so I am planting them for my children.鈥�

A simple story, simply told. Think of other stories- Noah and the Ark, or the Tower of Babel, Moses in the bulrushes, or the Greek myths. All these are apparently simple stories, yet often making a sophisticated and profound point. 听And I can remember them- and so can you-far better than the most elegantly written paragraphs of philosophy or history, however insightful or compelling. Stories are how we learn and how we think. We Jews are great creatures of the word, of studying their precise meaning and rejoicing in interpretation. That鈥檚 why it matters what people say and write. Words matter. They form stories. That鈥檚 what we remember. That鈥檚 how we define who we are. 听And, ultimately, all our beliefs and values are shaped by the stories we hear, and understand. So let鈥檚 hope even more children enter this year鈥檚 Words story competition, and give us even more to read, learn, and think about- for all our futures, and to show us that, just like the carob tree, the next generation will bear fruit and share their insights and wisdom, and give us new ways of looking at the world we hadn鈥檛 thought of ourselves.听听