28 Elul 5786

I am writing from my apartment in Jerusalem, taking a quiet moment before Rosh Hashanah to reflect on some of the things I am grateful for this year.

I am grateful for my new tablet and my two iPhones, which bring the world closer and keep me connected to friends around the world.

I am grateful for a dream I had this morning. My dear mother, z”l, opened the door to my apartment, laughing with joy. She was beautiful…

I am grateful for JNS, PragerU, Haviv Rettig Gur, Avi Abelow, Lockdown University and the CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster — my main sources of news, entertainment and education every single day of the year.

I am grateful for my apartment communities in Montreal and Jerusalem. Yesterday, my Jerusalem co-op held a Rosh Hashanah meet-and-greet. We heard short Torah reflections from two members, and each of us was given someone else’s name in the room to bless.

I am grateful for my RENPHO scale, which helps me track my weight, BMI, body fat, muscle mass, body water, and other measures of my health every day.

I am grateful for Israel’s universal health-care system and for my doctor, Efraim Rosen, whom I can easily contact by phone or see in person when needed.

I am grateful for the blessing of family and for the joys we have celebrated together this year: Zach and Maya’s wedding, Rachel and Asher’s wedding, our family Passover celebrations, Hadar’s graduation from the army, Ashira’s graduation from high school, Orit’s first birthday, Niva’s bat mitzvah, and Matanel and Nachala’s wedding celebration on a hilltop in Judea.

I am grateful to be in my 80th year and to have completed the French version of my memoir.

I am grateful to have completed the necessary upgrades to my apartment in Jerusalem and for my new desk, which can also serve as a large table in anticipation of future celebrations.

I am grateful to have been born a Jew. As Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg once shared, “Birth is a form of election.”

And I am grateful for this quiet moment of reflection and for the opportunity to share it with you.

As this year draws to a close, I realize that gratitude itself is part of taking stock — remembering what we have been given before asking what the coming year may bring.

Tomorrow evening, Jews in Israel and around the world will enter the holy time of Rosh Hashanah, also known as Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment, and Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance.

We will once again participate in our traditional prayers, in which each of us — and the world itself — is judged by the One and Only Judge in Heaven, who is also our Loving Father:

Who will live and who will die? … Who by fire and who by water? … Who by sword?

These words come from the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, recited during the High Holy Days.

Perhaps this helps explain why even Jews who rarely step into a synagogue during the year return for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, year after year, as Jews have done for generations.

This awe-filled month of Elul is a time for self-assessment — a time to examine our behaviour, reflect on the year that has passed and open pathways toward self-correction.

The grand theme of our prayers is:

Teshuvah, tefillah u’tzedakah
Ma’avirin et ro’a hagezeirah

Repentance, prayer and charity can avert the severity of the decree.

May we all be inscribed for a year of life, health, peace and sweetness.

Shanah Tovah U’Metukah — wishing you all a good and sweet New Year.

Abigail Hirsch

For further reading:

For the full text of Unetaneh Tokef, the High Holy Day prayer recited during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, see the Chabad.org Yom Kippur Machzor, p. 39.