Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
We had to catch our breath numerous times this year. It is so difficult and aggravating to breathe with a mask. We did this in order that others could continue to breathe and stay alive. But now all the short, frustrating, and suffocating breaths will be combined into one great breath in the blowing of the shofar. To inhale, exhale, and make a sound that is beyond all words.
Prayer services may be shortened this year. Still, the prayers may shrink, but not the heart or its devotion which, on the contrary, will grow and increase. It seems to me that this year each word in the prayer book is shouting out to us: "Please God heal her (Israel's) ailments now, let the year and its curses be over."
Many people are sharing their memories from a year ago and sigh: "Where were we last year and where are we now?". The main aspect of Rosh Hashana however is not to look back but to look forward. We do not yet have pictures to share of what we will be like a year from now since we will determine – through prayer and heartfelt request – what sort of people we will become and in what sort of world we will live.
May everyone be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life!
