Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Monday, September 22
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August 22, 2025 |
Dear Friends,
Many things in life are not our choice. We do not choose the color of our eyes, our height, the things that interest us, the place we were born, and the good and bad things that occur in our lives. There is so much over which we have little or no control. Yet, in this Torah portion Re’eh, see (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17), Moses lets us know that we have a choice of actions that we can take. He says “You can see that I am placing before you both a blessing and a curse. The blessing will come if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I am prescribing you today.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-27). He does the same again toward the end of Deuteronomy when the choice set before is to choose life over death and blessing over curse.
What does it mean to have choice? Bad things happen all the time; yet it is ourresponse that matters. Even in the most dangerous of times, we must not see ourselves as victims. The choice of how to respond in any given situation is always up to us. This is the time of year when we reflect upon our choices as we enter the month of Elul, the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah. Looking back is useful only insofar as we can use it to understand how we can move forward.
Mitzvah of the Week
In speaking today with someone who has both family members and friends in Israel, he shared with me one of the ways people are coping with the current situation: they are reaching out to one another. This may sound simple, but it echoes something our state senator, Gustavo Rivera, said on Monday evening at the vigil in Seton Park. He reminded us that we are not alone, that we need to reach out to one another. In Israel, people are simply, or perhaps not so simply, reconnecting—not necessarily talking about the situation, the matzav, but simply checking in. Why does this matter? When one feels the world closing in, one can feel alone, unmoored. Reaching out to others reestablishes our common humanity.
Whatever else you are doing, I invite you to reach beyond your usual circle and simply check in.
| Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu ve'al kol Israel, ve'imru, Amen. |
| May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us all and all the people of Israel. |
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