The other day I encountered this message written in chalk on the Manhattan sidewalk, Dream until your dreams become reality. What a potent message as we stand on the cusp of a new year. We don't know for certain how our path will unfold in the days, weeks, months and year ahead. We can face the future with a sense of aspiration and imagination. This past year 5781 has been one of פרקי אהבה/pirkei ahavah/loving chapters. We have worked to experience one another and ourselves with kindness and love. We have mourned. We have celebrated. We have laid things to
rest. We have watched things bloom. Some of you have joined me in gently pulling your shoulders back to expose the heart. You have lived with bravery and courage. Together, we have learned first hand that hearts are meant to be broken. They are also meant to fill and spill over. All of this is practice for a new year of potential and opportunity.
Whether you are celebrating from the beach, your home, inside or outside this year, I hope you find time to connect with community. None of us are meant to be alone. Together, we help support each other's dreams, making them reality.
As we begin a new year, I've framed the year that awaits us around the acronym representing the year ahead. 5782 is תש"פב - תתחדש שנת פרק ברכה - may this year be a blessing chapter. When we look at the printed letter pey as it appears in the Torah scroll, we find the letter bet in the empty space. Blessings emerge when we least expect them. Blessings rise up when we turn our hearts, minds and beings carefully and consciously to the world and one another.
Each month this year, I'll share a blessing from our tradition to experience and practice. I'll reveal this month's blessing in my sermon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah from Ethical Culture. In case you miss it (in person or livestream), I"ll send a brief recap following Rosh Hashanah so we can all practice this blessing when the time is right in the year ahead.
With profound gratitude to our community who holds one another up and keeps one another safe, and to the holy one of divine sanctity who steadies our steps. May we bless the new year and may it bless us with love, compassion, justice, joy and abundant blessing.
L'Shana Tovah, rg
Congregation Habonim 103 West End Ave New York, NY 10023
