I wrote some really uplifting posts (I think…?) on Sunday morning. A few hours later my daughter got hurt while riding her scooter, so I scrapped those posts (for now) and shunted my energy into her healing (as well as my own—my heart poured out for her and I felt like I had gotten punched in the gut).
Another thing I didn’t anticipate happening was the Iran missile attack on Israel. I have dear relatives and friends there. Outpatient x-ray appointments were put into a different light.
In any case, it’s been a trying week (half-week, whatever) to say the least.
I suppose it even started last week with Hurricane closures…
Everything is everything. Lauryn Hill said it. King Solomon probably did too at some point.
We are all connected. Each of us. As well as us with our environment.
Perhaps you’ve had something go awry in the past week? Or you know someone who has? Hurricane-related or otherwise.
The hurricane and the associated tropical storm warning brought to mind: Powerlessness.
Thousands of people had literally lost power—some still don’t have it.
Powerlessness.
Helplessness.
These feelings have been at the forefront of our minds and hearts these past 7 days.
They also just so happen to be the theme of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
“We come from dust, and return to dust. We labour by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, and like a withered flower; like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream.”
The above paragraph is taken from Unetanneh Tokef, which prior discusses the different ways that people pass away and how repentance, prayer, and tzedakah (charity) can change the decree. Rosh Hashanah is also called the Day of Judgment and Day of Remembrance, as we pray to be inscribed in the book of life. Interestingly, I once learned that the last day of the high holidays, Simchat Torah, is like a credit card—even if we haven’t yet changed, we promise we will, and on that promise we are given another chance at life.
Wishing everyone a Shana Tova! A Good Year, a Happy New Year—one that brings us personal comfort, healing, and success, as well as on a national and universal level.
Mindful Nuggets 