One year is ending and another is beginning. We stand before G-d and ask him to bless us this year. We think of all of the good things that happened over the past year and hope that they will be repeated and multiplied. We think of all of the bad things—or the not so good things—and worry that they might happen again.
What I think of most of all are the surprises: the new things that haven’t even been thought of yet; the events in the past year that we never saw coming and could never have anticipated. There are people we met and formed relationships with; there are people who moved, people who became sick and people who passed away.
I believe that the greatest thing that we can ask of G-d is that He keeps an eye on us. We ask for the opportunity to live lives in which we are aware that G-d is our Father and our King. Lives in which we are aware of G-d’s loving presence at each and every moment.
Several years ago, a friend’s nine-year old son was diagnosed with a serious tumor in his leg. A nine-year-old boy. The family spent months going through chemotherapy and surgery and tours of hospitals and emergency rooms.
Before one round of chemotherapy, my friend took his son on a roller coaster. The boy was in a wheelchair and had lost all of his hair, but he and his father were determined to have fun on that roller coaster. The sensitive workers did not ask the boy to remove his hat, but as the ride began, the little boy looked around and asked his father an awkward question: “how come they asked everyone else to take off their hats, but they let me leave mine on?” The father did not want his son to feel self-conscious, so he stretched the truth a little bit. He explained that the workers did not want to waste time finding the owners of all of the fallen hats after the ride. That’s why they ask everyone to remove their hats. “But,” he continued, “They choose one person during each ride who is allowed to keep his hat on. if your hat flies off they don’t have to wonder who it belongs to. They will know that it is yours and they will return it right away.”
Can you imagine the thoughts going through that little boy’s mind? Here he was going through the most traumatic year of his life, dealing with things that no nine-year-old should deal with, and he was chosen—of all of the people on the roller coaster to be the ‘designated hat wearer.” The workers were willing to keep track of one hat, and they had chosen his! What a feeling of confidence and comfort!
The story about the Roller Coaster is 100% true for every one of us, only it is not a thoughtful worker at Six Flags that has his eye on us—it is G-d Himself. G-d has the ability to keep track of every single one of us and make sure that we succeed.
We ask ourselves so many questions on Rosh Hashanah: Who will live? Who will prosper? Who will make a difference in the lives of others? Who will see nachas from their children? Who will celebrate happy occasions with their friends? Who will realize their aspirations and who will have the chance to accomplish all that they can in this world?
We know what we want the answers to those questions to be, but we cannot question the ways of G-d. One thing we can know for sure is that G-d has His eye on us. No matter what happens this year—He will be with us.
May you be signed and sealed for a good year!
—Rabbi Sender Haber,
B’nai Israel Congregation