I want to wish all my friends a very happy and healthy Jewish New Year.  Shana Tova!

Tonight begins the holiday of Rosh Hashana, which is Hebrew for head (“rosh”) of the (“ha”) year (“shana”).  In Hebrew, the word “tov” means Good, so when you say Shana Tova, you are wishing a Good Year to everyone.  The Jewish New Year coincides with the bounty of the harvest, and we are renewed with the hope that it will be a bountiful year for us and for the world.

It is probably fitting that Rosh Hashana also approximately coincides with the beginning of a fiscal year for all of the governmental agencies in our country.  The beginning of a new budget year gives all of us a fresh start to get it right, and in these fiscally challenged times, to do it more prudently.

We are all feeling the pinch of a shrinking economy, and we are all having to learn how to do without things we’ve long taken for granted.  However, if we can try to look at it from a different perspective, that perhaps things really do happen for a reason, then we are meant to learn some lessons from these dire times.  Maybe it’s time we take stock of our lives from not only the spiritual perspective of this Holiday, but to also examine the physical things that are truly important to us.  There are things that have no monetary value, but are worth much more than gold.  When you think about it, all that really matters is your health, your family and your close friends.  (And, if you’re like me, you also have your cherished four legged family members, too.)  We came into this world with a lot less baggage than we’re carrying around now.  Of all the stuff you’ve collected along the way, how much of it do you really need?  Getting rid of the extra weight can actually be quite freeing.  Maybe we can take this time to take inventory of the material things that are holding us back from truly enjoying life.  How many pairs of shoes do you really need in your closet anyway?  How many people who have no shoes would love the ones you don’t even wear?  I’m just saying.

If you are blessed with people who love you, and you have a roof over your head, enough food on the table, water to drink, and other basic necessities, you have a lot more than most of the people in the entire world.  Perhaps we should start learning how to be grateful for the things we do have.

Despite the bad economy, despite the troubles in our lives and our worries about the future, we truly have so much to be grateful for.  We have each other, we have our freedom, and we have hope for the future.  Throughout the history of our great nation, through wars and recessions, and even through the Great Depression, America has always survived.  Let’s renew our faith as individuals, as a community and as a nation that we will get through these times, and we will get through them together.

On this 5772nd Jewish New Year, I wish all of you a Good Year, filled with love, joy, peace, health and hope.  May you have a very sweet and bountiful year.

Shana Tova,

Stephanie