On the Cusp of 5768

In just a couple of hours we will intone the perennial wish:

תכל שנה וקללותיה, תחל שנה וברכותיה.
Oh God, let the year and its curses end. Let the New Year and its blessings commence.

I feel a bit mixed about the sentiment, because there is a lot that happened this year for which I have to thank God. Everyone is healthy, and home for the Hagim. I got tenure, was picked for a lot of really great projects and my book is steaming along. My wife was graduated from Beit Berl and is working as an Art Therapist. Number one son finished his BA and is finishing his MA proposal. Number two son finished Hesder and the army. Daughter Number 1 is starting universitt. Daughter number two is doing wonderfully in High School. Daughter number three went into fourth grade and gets up early so as not to be late for school. Barukh HaShem!

Nationally, though, next year lookks more ominous than this past one. Olmert is running a liquidation sale, and both God's house and (le-havdil) my house may be on the block as he does everything to stay out of jail, and the all-knowing Left cheers the sounds of self-destruction. The Bet haVaad is a Bet Zenut (M. Sotah, end). The Syrians may have nuclear missiles and there are Neo-Nazis in the Shfelah. And what is our biggest problem?Shemittah.

And yet, Rosh Hashanah brings comfort. It is, as we know, the day of God's coronation. He is the King. He is the Judge. He decides. Ultimately, the sense of helplessness we feel about the world around us, brings us back to that fact. Modern man, as the Rav zt'l said, confuses 'What' with 'Why'. We know how things work. We don't know why, and Science can't tell us. Only God can, because only He knows.

So, at the end of the day, as we crown our King tonite and for the next two days, המלך הקדוש, it's a reaffirmation of our utter dependence upon Him, and Him alone.

אנו לי-ה ועינינו לי-ה.

והיה ד' למלך על כל הארץ ביום ההוא יהיה ד' אחד ושמו אחד.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה לכל בית ישראל.