12/29/2023
"A Prayer for the New Year" - From the Rabbi's Desk
Dear Friends,
The moments, days, weeks, and years have a way of flying by. With the secular new year just ahead, I think of the saying from the Talmud, that life itself, all the years, can feel too quick, like “Cholom Ne’uf” - like a dream that just flies away. One of the names for our Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, is Yom HaZikaron, the day of remembrance. Calling our new year a day to remember is an important insight. So often, we come to a new chapter thinking only of what is ahead. Our Jewish faith challenges us in these moments of looking forward to look back as well, to take stock of the strength we displayed in moments of challenge, to reflect on joys shared in moments of blessing, and to remember the values that make us who we are, so that we may better prepare ourselves to flourish into who we might become.
With my prayers that this Shabbat will be one of peace for all of our TBT families, and that this coming year bring blessing into your lives, and into the life of our community, I wish all a Shabbat Shalom and a very happy and healthy start to the secular new year.
This week, I leave you with a prayer, not composed by me, but which speaks to me deeply. As we think about the coming of another year, and the length and meaning of our days, I challenge you to take the words of this very special prayer to heart, and to allow its message to set a foundation for your year to come.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Dermer
A Prayer for the New Year
Even as we pray that years may be added to our lives, we ask, too, that true life may be added to our years. May the new year be for us a time for enhancing the quality of our lives, enriching their content, deepening their meaning. We ask G-d now to help us remain open to new ideas, entertain challenging doubts, reexamine long-held opinions, nurture a lively curiosity, and strive to add to our store of knowledge. May we develop greater compassion, be receptive to new friendships, sustain a buoyant enthusiasm, grow more sensitive to the beauty which surrounds us. May we be more responsive to the needs of others, less vulnerable to consuming greed, more attentive to the craving for fellowship, and more devoted to truth. Help us G-d to keep our spirits alive. In all of these ways we add meaning to our days. May we face the future with confidence, knowing that every age has its unique joys and satisfactions, each period in our lives a glory of its own. Whether our years be few or many, help us G-d to link our lives to the life of our people and to our eternal faith. Amen.
