At sunset on Rosh Hashanah eve, it is customary in many
synagogues to sing Rabbi Abraham Hazan Girondi's liturgical poem, "Little
Sister." Each verse ends with the words, "May the year and its curses
end," except the final verse, which ends with the words, "May the
year and its blessings begin."
This year, the holiday period arrives while we are still
recovering from the curses of an especially violent and painful year. We need a
new start now more than ever.
On this Rosh
Hashana we are blessed with a double restart. Tishri 1st, 5775 is not only the
start of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. It is also the first day of a
"sabbatical" year, in which the Torah commands us to restart as a
society: to refrain from agricultural labor, to forgive debts and to reduce
social gaps.
In the world of computing (and in contrast to the approach of the IT department in this clip), a restart alone fixes nothing. It simply closes malfunctioning programs and reloads the operating system. The same is true in life. A restart is not itself a change; it's an opportunity to change.
My wish to us all is that we will take good advantage of the restart opportunities we have been given, as individuals and as a society, and that our programs for change will be blessed with success.
"May the
year and its curses end; may the year and its blessings begin".
Shanah tovah,
Eli
Eli