בָּרוּךְ שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Blessed be He who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.

For many of us, this oft-repeated blessing of gratitude for God’s having sustained us to the start

of a holiday, or to the commencement of some other new experience, has deteriorated into a

rote practice – children (and maybe some of us adults, too) may even view the gathering for

pre-meal blessings to be the one thing standing between their hungry selves and the good-

smelling holiday meal sitting on the table.

In recent years, however, when I visit my parents over the Jewish holidays, my mother, who is

still young, but yet also old enough to be quite wise, points out that as one grows older and

witnesses the passing from the world of contemporaries, the ability to spend another holiday

with family becomes far less taken for granted, and, as a result, Shehechiyanu and the

thankfulness expressed within it become dramatically more meaningful.

Likewise, for years, I watched Rabbi Fred Elias ob”m make this same blessing on the first day of

school at Schechter Bergen – only to gain a much greater appreciation of the emotions behind

his practice, when, shortly after he departed this world, children around the world could not

attend school for many months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, however, so many of us – Jews from all over the world – from different backgrounds,

and sporting every possible level of religious observance – experienced the deep, heartfelt

emotions conveyed by Shehechiyahu.

After two difficult years of Jews worldwide facing virulent – and often violent – anti-Semitic

attacks, Israeli soldiers losing their limbs and lives while trying to #BringThemHome, and a

deluded Western world — seduced by the lies of those who seek to destroy it – becoming

increasingly hostile to those holding up the fort defending Western values, we have woken up

in a world in which for the first time in over a decade there are no living Israeli hostages in

Gaza, a humiliated Iran and its criminal proxies have been weakened beyond recognition,

Muslim countries are increasingly warming up to friendship with the Jewish State – with some

even having actively participated in its defense, and the world’s most powerful nations have

pledged that Gaza will soon be freed from the clutches of Hamas, never again be ruled by a

terrorist organization.

While life is still far from perfect – the price paid to get to this point is unfathomably enormous:

we cannot undo the pain of the families who have lost loved ones, and there are still innocent

people whose bodies are held hostage by Hamas – it is still fair to say that, in recent months,

we have experienced a series of almost Purim-esque sudden and dramatic positive changes in

national fortune.

 

This week marks the end of the Jewish holiday season, the return of students to school (in

Israel), and the beginning of the long season of uninterrupted, normal workweeks. It marks the

beginning of the customary Torah cycle – upon which there is an (unfortunately) extremely-rare

agreement among nearly every Jewish community. And this year, the new season also marks a

new beginning after – to paraphrase from our Sages – so many of the curses of the past couple

years have departed the scene so that the blessings of the new year can fully begin.

The social dynamics and developments of the past two years have also created an opportunity

unprecedented in recent decades to achieve positive societal changes within the Jewish

community – to put it simply: God has served us on a silver platter the opportunity to maximize

the impact of our respective Voice of the People endeavors.

Many years ago, a wise man taught me that the Midrash on this week’s Torah portion states

that when the first Sabbath began, God stopped working on creation even though He had not

finished everything on His task list. I understand this rabbinic tale allegorically – the world in

which we live is imperfect, so it is our responsibility to bring it closer to perfection. And we

need to act, not just think – if God’s creation was not perfect or complete, something that we

do can also be great even if we cannot deliver perfect results or if some of the task is ultimately

picked up by others.

Personally, I am extremely excited about our upcoming VotP presentations – marking the

beginning of the transformation of ideas into reality. Yes, we are really going to do this! And I

am so grateful for having been given the opportunity be part of this effort, and for being

assigned to Team 4 – I still smile at the good fortune that I have to get to work with a team of

such amazing people.

Shabbat Shalom. May the blessings of this new year continue and grow. And may our collective

efforts at Voice of the People deliver the transformative results that we seek and need.