Emunah

Emunah is a Hebrew word. It's sometimes translated as Faith, but the meaning is closer to Trust than Faith.

When one makes an agreement, one expects the parties to the agreement to keep their word. Emunah is the kind of faith or trust one invests in such a covenantal agreement. We are more likely to use the phrase Good Faith to distinguish this kind of trust from religious faith, where one adopts an unproven belief on spiritual grounds.

I bring up these nuanced notions of hope, faith, and trust because they are very much in the air these days, at all levels of society, from the personal to the political.

George Bush is scrambling like mad to preserve what little faith and trust his constituency still invest in his tottering judgment and leadership.

The turning point for loss of faith and trust in self-styled leaders is some liminal moment of disappointment, when one's expectations fall below the ground floor, below which only the hopelessly deluded would cheerfully go on.

I've never actually seen an ostrich stick its head in the sand, but the metaphor is apt.

Even an ostrich eventually sees the light of day if the shifting sand beneath its ruffled feathers erodes fast enough.