Rosh Hashannah and back-to-school often come close together on the calendar and this year they crash into each other.  The transition from summer-mode to school/Jewish New Year was sudden and somewhat harsh.  But, here we are, on the eve of the Jewish New Year poised to recognize another year in a foreign calendar.

As secular as my upbringing was and my currently identity as a  Jewish person is now, this holiday has come to signify a sweet time of year full of anticipation and hope.  Apples and honey have long symbolized the sweetness of the new year and I find it very ‘sweet’ that I get two New Years every year.  That feeling of starting fresh, clearing the slate and setting our sights on new expectations seems a fitting launch into the crispness of fall and the final quarter of the business year.

I’m happy to get two ‘new year’ moments of contemplation and renewal.  I invite you to take it too whether you celebrate Rosh Hashannah or not.

L’ Shana Tova

Amazing Peace; A Christmas Poem

By Maya Angelou

(‘Guest Blogger’)

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses. Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche over unprotected villages. The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty. We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian, implore you to stay awhile with us so we may learn by your shimmering light how to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time. On this platform of peace, we can create a language to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ Into the great religions of the world. We jubilate the precious advent of trust. We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope. All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul

Hannukah is here and it was much anticipated by the kids, as usual.  The first night was warm and fun and the dash of maturity that another year brought my kids went a long way to make it more meaningful.  Our annual ritual will go into effect tonight and it will be an exciting eight days of rushing through dinner to get to the candle lighting and present opening.

However, this year, which was challenging for a lot of people, combined with being asked to prepare a sermon last Sunday for Sacred Center NY, had me contemplating the holiday more deeply.  Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa all have a focus on lights or candles this time of year.  The lights symbolize different things in each tradition, and in Judaism in particular, the Hannukah lights represent the eight days that the oil burned in the temple when there was only enough oil for one night.  That is the miracle of Hannukah. The Jews had just won a battle that destroyed their temple and there was only one night’s worth of oil to burn.  The eight candles on a Menorah represent the eight-day miracle.  So that begs the question:

“Why are there nine candles in a Menorah?”

Ah, yes.  The ninth candle.  That candle is called the Shamash candle. Shamash in Hebrew means attendant or servant.  The Shamash is the servant to the other lights. The menorah can only be lit by the Shamash. It is not OK to light the other lights with any other candle other than the 9th one.  As the attendant to the light, the Shamash is responsible for lighting all the others.

Each of us is a light.  We have the choice as to whether we live from that lit-up place or ignore our light.  During the holiday season, most people feel their light more acutely. It’s a time of giving, sharing, remembering those less fortunate and wishing strangers on the street a good holiday.  What I suggest this year is that not only are we all ‘lights’ but we are also Shamash. We are both light and the servant to the light because in every moment we have the choice to light other lights as we go about our day.  Hold that image for a moment.

If you were the attendant of other lights, is there anything you would change?

I am the servant to the light in my children, my spouse, my family, my clients, by neighbors and I’ve chosen it as my work.  Do I succeed all the time? God, no!  But I am reminded as we light the menorah every night of the power we have to celebrate the light—the light in every single being.

I was given the rare opportunity to get through to my tween.  It was yet another conversation that was quickly going down the slippery slope of pre-hormonal apathy (his, not mine!) and somehow, I was able to break down the concept of discipline to the most common denominator.

“If you want different results, you have to have new habits.”

He stopped.  He looked at me.  Something clicked.  He stopped hearing how horrible and mistaken he was (I never said that but that was his interpretation) and saw a moment of light and possibility.  We found common ground!  New habits.  He could start new habits!

How about you?  This is the time of year when the media knocks on my door to talk about new years resolutions.  I welcome the invitation but I warn them that  I don’t believe in them.  They are a list of new results and they ignore the difficulty of the new habits required for new outcomes.  Of course, it’s important to keep the goal in your sights, but the action you take on a daily basis is what gets you there.  It’s not enough to say you will do something.  You have to make up your mind and take action accordingly and probably much simpler action than you originally thought.

Pick one habit that needs to change.  Just one.  And change it.  New results will follow.  I promise.

I woke up this morning with the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” song in my head. It’s Thanksgiving morning and I have been feeling the gratitude most of the month. In fact, the Gratitude post has been up for a while. But waking up singing this song, made me want to post a quick message to say….

Whoever you are with today, in holiday mode or not, whatever human dramas you come across, whatever family dynamic might exist, whatever stress you might feel (from cooking and entertaining or not)—All you need is love…..

All you need is love…..

All you need is love—love—love is all you need.

Pepper it on every problem, shower it on every annoying relative, rinse it over the dirty dishes and have the BEST Thanksgiving ever!