Last year was a terrible year.
It was the worst year we’ve had in a long time.
It’s unbelievably Day 356.
But it doesn’t mean we should give up.
We should think positively.
We have to anticipate a great year ahead.
How do we do this?
Hadas Lowenstern is the widow of Elisha who was killed on Chanukah. She has been spending these months living life and sharing her philosophy with all of us.
Hadas does not sugarcoat her challenge.
She says she wears the moniker of “widow” and therefore she has somewhat become public property.
She has experienced 3 questions that people feel no compunction asking her in a regular basis.
1. How are you?
2. ⁠How are the kids?
3. ⁠When do you plan to remarry?
Hadas remarks with her wry sense of humor that the questions abound, but tact, not so much.
Despite the tactless nature of some of these probing questions from strangers, Hadas decides to focus on the positive.
She feels all of this comes from a place of love.
People have a desire to fix things and they ultimately want to help her repair and fill the void and erase the pain.
But Hadas says that she has to live in that place of breakage and build from there.
She sees her situation as good.
Her attitude is positive and she feels love from Gd and loves her life.
She focuses on her strengths and often says she was dealt a hand of cards that is full of gifts.
Hadas says she loves her life.
And she reports that she has always been like this.
Her focus is positive.
Hadas loves her life.
Do we love ours?
Rosh Hashana is soon upon us.
Rabbi Shragi Neuberger spoke tonight in Atlanta.
He braved the awful weather to share words of encouragement and preparation for the year ahead.
This past year has been an awful year.
It may be the worst year the Jewish people have experienced since WWII.
Our natural reaction might be to despair.
But we need to overcome that knee jerk reaction and be positive.
(And we have real life role models like Hadas who we can emulate!)
Rabbi Neuberger heard of a hostage who had been released and shared some of her story.
Her life before captivity was a very typical one. She had very little experience with Judaism or spirituality.
For the first two weeks after she was abducted she was held in solitary confinement, facing a wall. With so many hours to herself, and with no distractions, she began to access the idea that she was a spiritual being.
That dreadful time allowed her to get in touch with something that had not been accessible to her previously.
After she finished her talk to the community she had traveled to, the Rabbi blew the shofar for her.
She had never heard it before.
She heard the shofar for the first time and it brought her to tears.
Her soul had been accessed.

We have to make a difference so that the year ahead will be different.
Rabbi Neuberger explained that we have the capacity to affect change.
Each and every one of us can do things that will make a difference.
Every Mitzva we do can make a difference and every Mitzva we do has power.
He related a story about an individual who had a sick relative. This person approached his rabbi and asked for a Mitzva observance which could serve as a merit for the benefit of healing the ill relative.
The rabbi suggested he work on bettering his relationship with his wife.
The man was puzzled.
He had an excellent relationship with his wife, he thought he needed some other, more difficult project.
The rabbi replied - take action to make the harmony in your home even better.
If there is peace in the home then Gds presence is in the home and bringing Gds presence more firmly into the world makes a difference and will serve as a merit.
Every Mitzva has strength and brings merit.
When we worry about the needs of others, that raises our spiritual barometer, it helps access our soul and allows us to live a richer, more textured life.
It will make us better people.
In uplifting the mundane, even smiling at someone, lifts our lives to a higher plane.
That is the response to this terrible time.
We have to do better for each other, and every little bit can make a difference.
We tend to sell ourselves short. We don’t think our actions make much impact or we think we cannot change.
That is the evil inclination which uses sophisticated techniques to manipulate us and lead us to believe we cannot grow.
So how do we overcome?
By doing positive actions and flooding (sorry for the timely pun) our minds with positive thoughts.
Every positive thought and action creates a Malach, a positive spiritual energy.
Rabbi Neuberger exhorts us to
Just Do Good.
Talk positively, think positively, it will change you.
Our Sages teach us that as we go to sleep at night we should have the thought that we will do something nice for someone tomorrow.
Even having that thought is considered meritorious.
We need to believe our actions can make a difference, our positive attitude can change the world.
And in the merit of this may we blessed with a Shana Tova UMetuka!
A Sweet and Good New Year!
Next week is Rosh Hashana so I send you all my best wishes now!!
And may we please Hashem see our hostages home safe in the loving arms of their families.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!