The
New Year has arrived! Welcome 2014!
I
know, I know… the SECULAR New Year. But
I’m Jewish! Isn’t our New Year at
Rosh Hashana? Truth be told, “New Year” as a holiday does not exist
in the Torah! Instead, we have FOUR New
Years. Rosh Hashana, for calculating
calendar years; Tu B’shevat, the “new year” for trees; the first of Nisan is
the calendar “new year” for reckoning festivals; and the first day of Elul is the
“new year” for animal tithes!
We Jews observe Rosh Hashana
as the “Head of the Year” and associate it with dipping apples in honey as well
as Teshuva, asking for forgiveness
for a multitude of commissions and omissions.
There is a ten day window of opportunity, with Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement, the last day to “make it right” before the “Gates of Heaven” slam
shut.
Repentance is hard work, and
it isn’t as much fun as sitting in front of your TV and toasting the New Year
with a bit of the bubbly as a gigantic Waterford
Crystal ball descends on Time
Square, accompanied by 50 tons of confetti!
Fortunately, as Jews, we
have two opportunities to “get it right.”
We can work on the religious items while observing the Jewish New Year
and the more mundane items for the secular New Year. The Jewish New Year allows for a clean
spiritual slate. The secular New Year sets
our imagination on the future and challenges us to make positive, personal
choices. “New Year’s Resolutions!” We can identify some resolutions through
statistical data. Health Club memberships soar (“get healthy in the coming
year”) as do sales for Rosetta Stone. (“ I will learn Mandarin Chinese or
French or Hebrew this year”)
It’s not that we set
ourselves up for failure with these noble resolutions, but before the month is
out, most resolutions fall by the wayside. Perhaps it is so difficult to keep
these resolutions because we ask too much of ourselves at one time. Along with
the ‘big’ resolutions, tuck in a few that are doable… like flossing every night
or making sure to put a few coins in a Tzedahkah box every Friday night. And if you “fall off the horse” just forgive
yourself and get back on! There are 365
days in the year, and each day is a chance to do better than the day before.
With
that in mind, I’d like to leave you with sage advice from Reb Nachman of
Bratzlav, as relevant today as over 200 years ago when he spoke these words:
“If
you are not going to be better tomorrow than you are today,
then
what do you need tomorrow for?”
Gary
and I wish each one of you a happy, healthy and prosperous year. We have had a wonderful year with FJC, filled
with warmth and friendship, and the excitement of watching our congregation
grow! May God give each and every one of us the wisdom and compassion to
sustain each other as a Kehilla Kedosha,
a holy community, in 2014,
Shabbat
Shalom,
Rabbi
Rose
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