To My Dear Students,
I am pleased to begin a second year of sending
you a weekly inspirational thought for Shabbat.
I hope the messages will not only be received
on your computer but received in your mind, heart,
and spirit!
Life
is not about keeping score. It is not about
how many friends you have or how many people you
have dated, how much money your family has, or
how many cars you own. It is not about how
beautiful you are, or what clothes you wear, what
shoes you have on. It is not about if your
hair is silky and lustrous, if you are not as
thin as models in a magazine, or if your complexion
is perfectly smooth. It is not ultimately
about what grades you get, how smart you are,
how smart everybody else thinks you are, or how
smart standardized tests say you are. It
is not even about what clubs you are in or how
good you are at sports. It is certainly
not about representing your entire being on a
piece of paper.
Life
is not about these things.
But
life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It is about who you make happy or unhappy.
It is about keeping or betraying trust.
It is about friendship and loyalty. It is
about commitment and respect. It is about
values and ethics. It is about what you
say and what you mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
It is about whether you start rumors, listen to
loshon hora, or repeat gossip.
It is about the judgments you pass on others and
why, and who your judgments are spread to.
It is about suppressing jealousy, overcoming fear,
and denying the temptation for revenge.
It is about whether you carry inner hate or inner
love, and which you allow to grow and which you
spread. It is about whether you use your
life to touch or poison other people's hearts.
These
choices are what life is all about.
The
Holy Days remind us that free will is G-d's choicest
gift, that while we cannot choose our fate we
can choose our destiny.
We can mold our character moment by moment, determining
whether we are sources of blessing or curse; whether
we are victors or victims; whether we give or
hoard; whether we are faithful or faithless; whether
we are thankful or ungrateful.
What
is our life about? It is about what we determine
it will be. How do we determine it?
By what we do!
Shana
Tova to you and your loved ones,
Your
Rabbi
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