This is a time of renewal.
We celebrate the arrival of the New Year at a time when the seasons are
changing. At a time when our world is
renewing in front of our eyes.
Likewise, we should take this change to heart. We should look for the need for change and
renewal within ourselves.
The sounding of the shofar, on Thursday morning this week, should serve to
us as a wake-up call. Amidst all the
upheavals of our lives this past year, amidst all the gyrations that beset the
world around us – the world close at hand and the greater world as well – what is
the lesson for our inner lives?
The goal of the Ten Days of Repentance is not that one should feel
guilty. It is rather, to cause us to recognise
the need to move forward in positive directions…and then produce the commitment
that makes one move forward thusly.
My own life has seen its share of upheaval in the past year. But through the stress of the upheaval, the
truth which was clear before has become far clearer than ever. And the truth is that, no matter how one
might feel aggrieved by others at any given moment, the power is in our own
hands to determine our destiny – and our happiness. To move forward positively.
Now is the time to start making the decisions. Now is the time to take the necessary steps
to drop aside the baggage that is weighing us down. Because it does weigh us down…and
keeps us from reaching for a better life.
If ever there is a time of the year to plan and decide for one’s own happiness,
it is now. The longer we put it off, the
more misery we allow to weigh us down, and to weigh down those with whom we
interact. It is in each person’s hands
to determine whether he will serve as an agent of misery, or one of happiness
in the coming year.
As Hillel put it: If not now,
when?
Shanah tovah umetukah.
Rabbi Don and Clara Levy
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