Jon Levenson, once upon a time of the University of Chicago, here:
In this calendar, there is thus a cyclicality of feasting and fasting, of celebrating and mourning, of high success and abysmal failure, that stands in tension with, and relativizes, any “progress of mankind toward an accomplished purpose.” The messianic consummation is indeed promised and, for the believer, draws closer with each passing day. But whether humankind is making progress toward it is a very different question.
