Hayom Harat Olam: “This moment is pregnant with eternity" – Rabbi Gerson Cohen
The syntax of harat in Ha-yom harat olam presents an interesting problem to translators. Harat remains the construct of the noun harah and harat olam is parallel to ahavat olam, as an example. The translation "This day is the birth of the world" is superior to "this day gives birth to the world," because it does not confuse a noun with a verb. Obviously, the root is 'harah'. Even Shoshan suggests that harat is a nismakh form of the substantive from the adjectival form harah, but this is likely not correct.
The origin is what sparks the controversy. It is Jeremiah 20:17, where the pshat is "and her (my mother's) womb (would have been) pregnant forever" (i.e. I would never have been born). Understood as Jeremiah spoke it regarding his own struggles, the word harat is not a verb, but rather a "pious pun" which has within it a play on words. Taken as Jeremiah uttered it, the liturgical rendition for Rosh Hashanah could be understood to mean that "This day might never have been born." — that is, this day, in our turbulent world, is a miracle. These words express radical amazement: why hasn’t the Yetzer Hara — the inclination to destroy — within our enemies not resulted in their putting an end to us? (For that matter, given the universal availability of weapons capable of massive destruction, why haven’t the nations of the world haven’t destroyed themselves?)
Interestingly, Jeremiah, a tortured, struggling prophet, fails to answer the question more directly in the context of his own struggle on the eve of the Babylonian conquest of Judea. Perhaps the question has no answer in times of crisis. In evil times, can we really depend on the goodness of God? The question is true for Jeremiah's day, for the Holocaust, and for our own time. On the other hand, how can we not turn to our claim that God is good — that our efforts are inspired by the belief that they will ultimately result in peace, security, and prosperity for everyone?
Maybe what we are saying to ourselves with our declaration that hayom harat olam, is — loosely translated — that "Today is pregnant with possibilities, with eternity itself" — and never give up when things seem dark!
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