Andrea Jacobs: I’ve composed a prayer of sorts on this page for 22 years. Every year it seems to get harder. I must dig deep, without ever anticipating the end. It’s an act of faith performed in the silence of my heart.
For weeks a chasidic teaching attributed to Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa has whispered to me:
“Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket so that he or she can reach into one or the other depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach in the right pocket and there find the words, ‘For my sake the world was created.’
“But when feeling high and mighty, one should reach into the left pocket and find the words, ‘I am but dust and ashes.’”
Both scraps of paper speak the truth. Life is glorious and finite; hopeful at every turn, and often so sad.
My prayer for 5775 is that we tread these unavoidable extremes together. Otherwise, the human condition is untenable. Whether friend or stranger, share in my unpredictable journey — and I promise to walk beside you.
Amy Lederman: This has been a year filled with struggles and challenges in our country, in Israel and throughout the world. It is easy to despair but it is also clear that through our struggles, we are reminded of the inter-connectedness between all of us and that for each one of to do well, we must all take part to repair what needs our attention, care and love.
As we begin this New Year, may we have the vision to find a piece of the world that needs our help and the strength and determination to take action to fix it.
For it is in our everyday efforts, individually and as a community, that we have the power to leave this world in a condition worthy of praise.
I wish you a year of blessings, love, good health and peace.
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: One of the lines in the well known Sim Shalom prayer reads: “Bless us, Our Father, as one, with the light of Your Countenance.”
I always wondered: Shouldn’t Jews be able to come together as one without the medium of G-d’s countenance? For example, should- n’t I, an Ashkenazi Jew, be able to feel one with a Sephardi Jew without reference to G-d? Shouldn’t all Jews just be able to come together based on our common love of each other (ahavas Yisrael)?
These last few months taught me otherwise: Never in recent memory have the Jewish people come together more instinctively, palpably and powerfully than after the kidnapping of the three Israeli boys last June. Why did we come together then? For the the worst possible reason: the kidnapping and murder of three innocent people. The Sim Shalom prayer now became clear: “Bless us, Our Father, as one” — for a positive, not for a negative reason — for the positive medium of Your contenance.
That is my prayer for this year: Let the Jewish people come together as one, strictly for the positive reason of basking in Your contenance.
Miriam Goldberg: I give thanks for my growing family down through the generations, and hope that this year, the eternal prayer for peace, will be answered.
Shana R. Goldberg: A century ago in 1914, the world embarked on a conflict that forever changed the landscape of history. In September, 2014, it feels like we are on the brink of a similar apocalypse. As I prepare my Rosh Hashana seder of symbolic foods, my prayer this new year is simple: May our blessings over apples, honey, pomegranates and other fall harvest produce be fulfilled.
May it be Thy will . . .
• that our merits be proclaimed before You;
• that our enemies be consumed;
• that our adversaries be removed;
• that our merits be increased like the seeds of a pomegranate;
• that we be renewed for a good and sweet new year.
Jerry Mellman: Nothing gives me more pride and self-assurance than to be an American and a Jew.
My beloved wife Genevieve died over a year ago, and I regret that she is not with me to feel my happiness, which would also be her happiness.
I especially feel privileged to be sports editor of the IJN and to work with my associates and colleagues.
I am eternally grateful to have four wonderful children, Barbara, Lisa, Marti and David, and nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Rabbis Yisroel and Shloime Engel: Rosh Hashanah is the time we blow the Shofar. It is our wake up call for the coming year.
To do more — to add another mitzvah, another good deed. Last year was good; this year will be better.
Maimonides tells us to consider all our actions — good and otherwise — to be perfectly balanced on a scale.
To consider the entire world’s actions to be perfectly balanced. The next mitzvah will tip the scale, and make this world a better world.
Then we will hear the shofar once again telling us Moshiach has come.
May G-d bless us all with a year of health, prosperity, happiness and meaning.
May we merit a year of peace in Israel, and indeed around the world.
Larry Hankin: I pray that in 5775 this newspaper is able to print:
• less news about anti-Semitism around the world, and more news about acceptance of Jewish around the world;
• less news about Hamas rockets sending Israelis to bomb shelters, and more news about Israel fulfilling its potential as an advancing nation and homeland of the Jewish people;
• less news about the nuclear threat from Iran to Israel and the US, and more news about America and her allies standing up to that threat.
Most of all, I look forward to another year of publicizing many more happy events and organizational celebrations which showcase the good work done by those who care deeply about the Jewish people and our community.
Lori Aron: I join the community in praying for the continued strength and fortitude of Israel, especially during this time of growing world threats, and trust that Hashem will ensure that peace, justice and goodness will prevail.
To my family and friends, a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Julie Richman: As this New Year approaches, it is my humble prayer that those who are suffering receive comfort; that those who are battling illness receive relief and wellness; that those who are grieving receive love, hope and comfort; that those who are lonely experienced friendship and community.
It is my prayer that those whose countries are in turmoil receive moments of peace and stillness; that those who are without shelter or food receive sustenance and protection; that those whose families and communities have been torn by war are given respite.
It is my deepest hope that people of all ages, cultures, and generations see light in their darkest days, see hope where there has been none, and feel joy and happiness over sorrow.
Lisa Dicksteen: We are often reminded to “seek peace and pursue it” and then further reminded that peace will remain but a fantasy until we do the work of peace — each and every one of us together and separately, for if peace is to come into the world, it must come first into each heart, into each family, into each community, for it can spread only from the individual outward.
Using a combination of the words of the New Union Prayer Book and my own, I ask for the strength each of us needs in order to work toward the day when corruption and evil give way to integrity and goodness, when superstition shall no longer enslave the mind, nor idolatry blind the eye (and here I speak not of the worship of money and power and things rather). It is only once we each master our own heart, that we can look outward toward the goal of becoming one in spirit and one in friendship with all who dwell upon the earth.
May that work enable the year 5775 to bring life and peace, redemption and comfort. May violence rage no more and evil vanish like smoke; may the power of tyrants evaporate like mist in the sun. Then the world will be as it was meant to be, with swords made into ploughshares (or computer desks) and each individual sitting in the shade of his or her own fig tree (or on his or her own stoop), with none to make them afraid.
Tehilla R. Goldberg: May the blessgs of life, health and joy be seeded this Rosh Hashanah, and as the year unfolds and matures, may we be blessed to taste the fruits of these blessings. Shana tova u-metuka to you and to the entire Am Yisrael.
Copyright © 2014 by the Intermountain Jewish News
