Making Reasons to Believe in the New Year

 Dear Friends,


As we approach the new year of 5784 on the Jewish calendar I want to share two thoughts with you.

First of all, among my favorite lyrics from popular songs are the following words from Rod Stewart's "Reason to Believe."

If I gave you time to change my mindI'd find the way just to leave all the past behindKnowing that you liedStraight-faced while I criedStill I look to find a reason to believe

I  believe that the High Holiday season gives us an opportunity to change our minds and leave behind some of the past that has burdened us.  Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur give us the time to change our minds.  Whether we do so is up to us.

I also believe that his time of year has the potential to encourage us to find a reason to believe.  We are taught that G-d resides where we let G-d in.  I hope that we can leave behind some of the "lies" that we may have been told or even some of them we may have expressed.  I hope we will let hope, renewal, and forgiveness into our lives.  In this way perhaps the Divinity will lighten our burdens and give light to our lives.

Satchel Paige, a baseball pitcher who joined the Major Leagues at an older age after a successful career in the Negro Leagues, once said, "don't look back, someone might be gaining on you."

May we all look forward and make reasons to believe.  These Holidays inspire us  that we have the potential to change our behavior.

So...if we do believe that we can change our behavior and if we can find a way to leave our past behind, what differences will occur for us in the new year?

I turn to Debbie Friedman who in her Mishebarach (prayer for healing) encourages us to "find the courage to make our lives a blessing."

I hope and pray that we will make the new year a year of blessing where we find the courage to believe that we all can change for the better.

May we fill the new year with sweetness and take care of ourselves and each other. 

L'shanah tovah, tikatevu, may we all be inscribed for a joyful, healthy, fulfilling,  and safe new year.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft

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