This past Monday marked one year since the barbaric Hamas attack in the south of Israel, and a week since the Iranian missile barrage. These and the other challenges we continue to face as we start the new year are unprecedented, making our unity more important than ever.
Of course, it has been a very long time since Jews have truly been united, and that statement is being generous. History is replete with examples of our divisiveness and infighting, starting with the stories of Cain and Abel, and of Joseph and his brothers. We must do better, and our tradition suggests that this is the perfect time of the new year to start.
Judaism teaches that Hashem cannot forgive someone who may have hurt, insulted, or otherwise treated another person poorly; only the individual harmed can forgive the transgressor. For that reason, many of us spend the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur asking to be forgiven and granting forgiveness to each other. These simultaneously humbling and heartwarming exchanges lie at the core of human interaction, and represent one of the Jewish values I cherish the most.
Since I will not have the opportunity to speak to all of you individually before Yom Kippur begins, I am using this note to accept responsibility for any hurt or harm I may have caused you by my actions or omissions, and to ask to be forgiven for them.
I also pledge to try to do better in the upcoming year to keep such actions and omissions to an absolute minimum, and to truly model the values and behaviors we seek to encourage and strengthen in others through our work at Global Jewry.
Todah rabah and gmar chatima tova — may you be inscribed in the Book of Life when the shofar sounds at the close of the Neilah service.
Shana tova, Shabbat shalom and may this be the week the hostages return home safely,
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