As we approach the New Year.....

Friends, as we approach Rosh Hashanah this friday, it behooves us all to take some time and try and wrap our minds around our lives. Where have we been? Where are we now? And where do we want to go? It is the answers to these questions that will help us prop our lives into the limelight, and give us the clarity necessary to move forward to achieve our life goals, and, of course, try to bring ourselves closer to Hashem.

Yet, that's not enough. Our lives do not function within a vacuum. Our lives intersect with others, giving birth to relationships. We must examine these relationships as well. What kind of relationships do we have? Are they beneficial to both parties? Are they based on physicality, or spirituality? What purpose do they serve? You see, in this beautiful reality we find ourselves in, the consequences of our actions are meant to serve as the guide to our decisions. A good decision will yield a good result; a bad decision will yield a bad result. We must observe these results, learn from our bad decisions and mistakes, and pledge not to repeat them. For me, this is the essence of Rosh Hashanah.

Since my return from the Holy Land, this has become a daily routine. I have learnt that only through introspection can I improve my actions and bring myself closer to Hashem. And it is through this daily introspection that I have tagged my (numerous) faults, and I try to make a conscious choice to improve on them. For example, judging others. It used to be second nature. Someone walks by, and in my head, I have already scripted his life....what brought him here; what drives him; how he lives; Obviously, that's wrong. So, whenever I find my mind wandering in that direction I remember, 'judge not lest ye be judged'. Also, in Judaism, we believe that the way one judges others is the way the Almighty judges us on the day of our death. If we judge people favorably, Hashem extends us that same benefit. The flipside...well, you know the flipside.

And yet there's even more to our equation of introspection. Beyond ourselves and our relationships with others, we must all function within the boundaries and rules of society. Whether it's a call from muslim clerics to kill the Pope over comments associating violence to Islam (and the subsequent VIOLENT response), to heads of state calling for other states destruction, to kidnapping soldiers, to child warriors, to this 'culture of entitlement', to democracy v. dictatorship, to the decaying of "truth" from a goal to a means to an end, to human self-interest and state's self-interest, to the fallacy of human judgement, to the beauty of human empathy....all these things contribute to our own view of the world, and consequently, the way we behave in said world.

Rosh Hashanah is a gift from Hashem. Here, he's telling us that no matter what the previous year held, as long as we take stock, take help and take control of our lives, He will be there to help us and to guide us to wherever we want to go. That's His gift to us, but we need to earn it, it's not just given away. So please, my friends, sometime this week, sit down, take a pen and pad and draw up your life's plan. With dedication, an open heart and mind, and Hashem's help, there's nothing you cannot accomplish.

Take stock, take help, take control.

May we all be blessed this year with happiness, health and safety. No matter how far we fall, we have Hashem and our friends and family to pick us up. Remember that. Take solice in that. Understand that no matter what, we are not alone. We have each other...another of Hashem's many gifts. And this is the time of year to appreciate it.

L'Shana Tova U'Metuka!!!!!