Mina's Musings: Erev Rosh Hashanah 2017 - Choose Joy

Erev Rosh Hashanah 2017 – Choose Joy

Shanah Tovah.  It is good to see all of you this evening.  As we gather together this evening to usher in not only the new year, but our annual aseret y’mei teshuvah – ten days of repentance - we are each asked to take stock of our lives, to honestly evaluate our own behavior.  Of course beyond just taking stock of our lives we are asked each Rosh Hashanah to think about ways that we can use the information we gather through our heshbon nefesh, that accounting of our soul, into actions that will help us to actually DO a little self-improvement.  I recently read a Jewish folk story that I think sheds some light on this subject.

It happened not too long ago that two Jewish men – Hershel and Isadore (known to his friends as Izzy), who were both aged 83 and lived only three blocks apart from one another, died on the same day.  Hershel was the first to stand before God in judgment. 

God said, “So, Hershel tell me about your life.”

And so Hershel did.  He said, “Hashem, the world you made was indeed beautiful but I never got to see much of it.  I rarely left my little neighborhood.  And oy the neighborhood.  When we chose that neighborhood because it had a house we could afford I didn’t know it was going to become a neighborhood filled with Jews.  You know how Jews are.  They bicker a lot.  It seems every other minute there’s some holiday in which they have to pray to You. I’d see them walking to shul and know they were judging me for never going to services.  They ruined the neighborhood, but not as much as the beggars. There were neither Jews nor beggars when we moved there.  Ech.  I never gave them money or food.  If I did they’d only ask for more.  Of course I was a little bit like a beggar myself.  Sure when I was younger my job paid my bills but I worked hard and never became rich like others!  My kids – I sent them to school but then they turned their backs on me.  They only called once a week. They only invited me to their houses for birthdays, holidays – and of course when they were too cheap to pay for a real babysitter for their children. Rather than visit me regularly they gave me a dog that I had to walk every day and the darn thing tried to lick me all the time. Oy vey.  Sometimes I would just get so angry at my rotten kids and the annoying dog they gave me that I would kick the dog since I couldn’t kick my kids!  And You God didn’t make getting older any fun.  Golden years?  Please.  First I got high blood pressure, then I got diabetes and even had a heart attack!

When Hershel stopped talking God said “Thank you Hershel.  I’m ready to make my decision concerning your next steps.  In light of all that you did and experienced during your life I realize you aren’t ready for heaven so I am sending you as your atonement back to earth to be born again to a Jewish family in your old neighborhood.”  As the angel Gabriel began taking Hershel back to earth he ignored Hershel’s pleas not to be punished so. 

Up next was Isadore.  God called to him and said, “So Izzy, tell me about your life.”  And Izzy did.

He said, “Oh Hashem, the world you made was wonderful.  Though I rarely traveled, the parts I saw were glorious. I confess I mostly stayed in my neighborhood.  And oh, what a wonderful neighborhood.  We bought in that neighborhood when we were young because it was all we could afford.  Little did I know that it would turn out to be a Jewish neighborhood, filled with people who lived lives full of Yiddishkeit.  Though I wasn’t much of a shul goer myself I always knew when there was a holiday because I could see other Jews walking to synagogue, carrying their tallit, wearing all white, carrying their lulav, etc.  It made me happy to see them – and every once in a while I would even go into the synagogue.  There I learned about tzedakkah.  As the neighborhood changed there were so many needy people there that I always got to do that mitzvah.  And while my bank account wasn’t huge, I was rich in other ways.  My children were  a blessing.  I sent them to school and they never forgot me.  They called me every single week!  They had me over for every birthday and holiday and they even called me and invited me to spend time with my grandchildren all by myself when they wanted to go out by themselves!  They called it babysitting but how can a grandfather babysit his grandkids?  Ridiculous.  It was time together.  Oh and my kids worried about me being alone after my wife, their mother, died, so they bought me a dog.  They said it would not only keep me company but keep me healthy.  They were right.  That silly dog loved to lick me.  I couldn’t feel lonely with dog slobber on me.  And I had to walk it twice a day.  Good thing too.  After being diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes and then having a heart attack I needed something to keep me moving and as healthy as an old man could be.  That dog made the last ten years of my life so much better.  Well, that’s it Lord.”

When Izzy stopped talking God said, “Thank you Izzy.  In light of all you have told me I am ready to make my judgment about your next steps.  I believe you are ready to move on to your just reward.  I have decided to send you back to a Jewish family in your old neighborhood.”  As the angel Gabriel took Izzy back to the neighborhood he heard Izzy saying over and over “Thank you so much Hashem.  What a wonderful reward.”

After returning to the heavenly court the angel Gabriel looked concerned.  Hashem asked him what was wrong.  He said, “Adonai I just don’t understand how you could send Hershel & Izzy to the same neighborhood.  How can it be both a punishment and reward?” 

“It is easy,” said God.  “I have given human beings free choice.  Each person – no matter their circumstances - has the power to choose whether to see their life as a source of sorrow or joy. They can take a bad situation and with the right outlook, with a willingness to get help, or give help, turn it into something beautiful.  Or they can take a good situation and make it seem useless.  I do not have to punish or reward them at all.  They will do it to themselves.” 

My friends, as we enter the new year of 5778 I hope that we all choose to see the good in our lives, that on days when it is rough we get the help we need in order to find the beauty in our lives, that we help others when they reach out so that they will have beauty in their lives, and that in doing so we will bring heaven to earth.  Amen.