Rabbi Moshe P. Weisblum, PhD

My dear friends, looking back at this year there were many catastrophic happenings in our country. They include the housing market crisis-houses in foreclosure, dropping real estate prices-home sales coming to a screeching halt, the stock market and banking industry collapsing-Bear Stearns, Bank of America, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and many natural disasters affecting millions of people.

On the other hand, it was a good year for many individuals. Babies were born, people married, many proposed, people had simchas. Personally, I am very thankful to G-d and many of you for all your kindness and help during the time of my injury and recuperation. I remember vividly how I came here last year for the high holidays with a wheelchair… your dedication and devotion brought me strength and faith. Thank you. G-d bless you.

During the next few weeks, we will greet each other with a variation of Happy New Year, L'Shana Tovah. We'll add Tikatevu, that the person should be inscribed for a good year or maybe we'll tack on Umetukah, for a sweet year. During Yom Kippur we include Vetechatemu, sealing one's fate.

In general, we wish each other a Good Yomtov, a chag sameach... However you say it, the root of every greeting is to wish one another happiness. So how do we put the "happy" in Happy New Year?

Today, I would like to share with you some thoughts about happiness. What does it mean to be happy? We are standing today before the Almighty G-d asking to be inscribed for another year, one in which we become better and happier. We take an accounting of who we are and where we're going. Today, we go into a deep conversation between us and G-d. The High Holy Days are a serious time, so deeply significant. We enter into the synagogue to hopefully receive one more year of good life with the chance to become one step closer to feeling happy. So, how do we define happiness? Does the definition of happiness mean the same for everyone? What will you ask for to make you happy? Here are 7 questions to help you find some answers.

Is your life meaningful? And if you already know what the purpose of your life is, are your actions leading you to that goal? Also, what are you living for? What would you give up your life for? Only you can decide what unique value holds true for you.

What is basic to survival and what is necessary to grow to your potential? To know your needs is to know yourself, and thereby, your goals in life. That is why our sages encourage us to do a personal inventory and self searching at this time. In this self-discovery mode, delving within, look closely at your talents that you already possess and then look at the goals you've set for yourself. What does it take to get from here to there? From point A to point B?

Take a walk down memory lane of your past, your childhood. Who taught you what? Where did you learn your behavior and get your values from? What effect did the community or the influence of friends have on what you did? What we learn, especially during the High Holidays, is that it is never too late to change and improve ourselves. Tomorrow is always new, a clean slate, a perfect time to discard old habits or antiquated ideas. What are you teaching the next generation? Reflect, evaluate. Then re-evaluate and change if necessary.

5. What do I have? This is a Material question.

It is amazing how much we may take for granted. Here's a good exercise. One day, take a legal pad and begin listing all the things you have at your disposal. Start simple, like eyes to see, ears to hear and move to bigger items, like a car to drive, a roof over your head. Perhaps seeing all the things you already have and own can fill pages and pages, giving you a new reality, a new perspective. All of a sudden, your glass is half filled again. Seeing it on paper makes it more real. Do we sometimes forget the blessing we have especially when we have them day in and day out? Often, the nature of people is to take things for granted. You know the expression, "You don't know what you have until it's gone." Too often a person only becomes aware of the value of something or someone when they lose it, G-d forbid. Appreciation is often similar to love. That goes for your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends and even your neighbors. Every single day is a precious gift. I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present!" There is a well-known saying: "Yesterday was history, tomorrow a mystery, and today is our present"

Again, put your concerns in a list form, and then prioritize them. Look at each one carefully and decide if the concern is legitimate. Is it real or imagined? Is it important to your life? Is it worth your energy? Stressing about things you can't control is just plain unhealthy.

I've posed some questions for you to think about and meditate on while you stand before G-d during these holidays. Remember, each day really is a gift. We have all seen loved ones disappear over the years. Life in this world is finite. Our job, our responsibility is to make the most of each day. We owe it to ourselves, our loved ones, and the next generation and of course, to the Creator who gave us the gift of life. A priceless treasure.

In a world filled with billions of people, it may be hard to imagine that each of us can make a difference, be it large or small. Torah teaches us that each of us has the potential to make a mark on our world. Some of the most important and creative inventor’s lead ordinary lives. Albert Einstein had speech difficulties as a child. Thomas Alva Edison had hearing problems as a result of scarlet fever. There are just two examples of average human beings whose contributions impacted the entire universe. Think about your talents and your natural abilities. Those are your G-d given tools. The real question then becomes, "How can I best use what G-d has given me to make my mark on this planet?"

As a congregation, we have many reasons to feel happy. First and foremost, we are the only congregation in the entire Anna Arundel County to have a daily minyan for 103 years! Anyone who needs to say memorial prayers for their loved ones knows that our synagogue can accommodate their needs. That’s including so many visitors that come to us from all over the world! Furthermore, with all the challenges of our economy, we sold more High Holidays tickets than last year! 

We are blessed with so many talented people. Take for example, Dr. David Krimins, who explained to us the services in lucid English. Or our esteemed choir, 9 volunteers who sing so beautifully with many new melodies and solos. So many people said to me, "Rabbi, we really love to come to service. There is a feeling of being uplifted spiritually here." And here is the BIG NEWS… it was last Tuesday when Kneseth Israel received a large sum of money, a kind and generous gift for a new Torah. This was a stupendous gesture that we’ve waited for a long time. Thank you, Roberta and Jeffrey P. Goldstein for your generosity. I hope that others will follow in your footsteps. With G-d’s help, we will have a Torah dedication ceremony on October 19^th at 1:30 p.m., such a big Simcha. Mazal Tov to each of us. Together, we can make the difference. At this time, we should feel happy to be together, to help each other and yes collectively we will continue to rejuvenate and follow our mission of L’dor Vador – from generation to generation.

My dear friends, during this holy season, we ask G-d to grant us the clarity and strength to make our lives happy and meaningful. We are about to open our prayer books. There are a few types of High Holiday prayer books, the Askenaz version and the Sephardic. In our community, we use Askenaz because we are mostly Ashkenazi in this congregation.

In the Machzorim, the holiday prayer book, the Sephardi's machzorim, I noticed an interesting phrase that the Sephardim recite: "The past years curses should be over and instead be filled with blessings." We in Ashkenazi say the words "evil decree" where the Sephardim used the word "curses."

Let us hope and pray that we are successful, searching our souls and finding the courage and ability to take responsibility for who we are and what we have done this past year. We pray that from this point, when we are about to open a new chapter in life- we beseech the Almighty through our individual and community prayers, that curses and evil will not touch us. We pray that our government leaders and our business executives will learn from the past and begin to heal our troubled financial institution with honesty and responsible fiscal behavior. Please Almighty G-d, no foreclosures, no hurricanes, only blessings at home and in the world. Shana Tovah - A healthy, prosperous, meaningful New Year for us all. Amen.