SHANA TOVA

To all my Jewish brothers and sisters, regardless of your religious affiliation (or the absence of such), or regardless of whenever you consider yourself a Jew, or know that you are a Jew; to all of you I wish Shana Tova!

May the Master of the Universe bless all us with a good, sweet, and wonderful year, filled with health, happiness, prosperity, wisdom, clarity of purpose, and, most importantly, pride in being Jews and unconditional love for each other!

I will not exaggerate if I tell that I love all of our Holidays, because each has a distinct flavor and a unique balm for the soul. High Holidays bring with them the reminder to evaluate and re-evaluate our lives, our relationship with The Heavenly Father, and, most importantly, our relationship with each other. It is the opportunity to honestly examine and re-examine your soul; to once again proclaim His Mastery over the universe; to repent and cleanse your soul; and to start a new year with the new hope and renewed faith; then comes Succot, a time to report on the fulfillment of our mission.

My cynical side, on the other hand, cannot help by notice the human failings. I mean, this is the time to repent and ask each other's forgiveness. So, what's with the astronomical prices on food, homicidal driving, and more than usual rudeness, especially at the synagogue during services or to your own family members? And please do not tell me that that is a reaction to our crazy living.

On the lighter note, what is it with the continued explosion of the Goth clothing line amongst our ladies? I personally felt like a white, sorry pink, crow on Yom Kippur. I mean, almost everyone was attired in "elegant" black, including little girls and very young women. I guess our population, both male and female, disagrees with Burke about the effects of the black color.

So, here is to our souls pardoned from sins, loving each other, being a credit to His Name, and remembering that profound commentary by Rabbi Hirsch about sins being committed due to the non-use of our intellects.

Shana Tova U'Metukah!

MORE GREAT QUOTES

Here are two great quotes from last week:

"Forget about Ayers' domestic terrorism when Obama "was 8 years old." Does he agree with Ayers' idiot ideas right now?"
Ann Coulter

"If I were McCain, I'd start out by asking Obama if he thinks ACORN or that other famous community organization, the Mafia, is the more dangerous group. I, personally, have more respect for the Mafia. After all, they favor capitalism over socialism, they genuinely like America, they don't try to destroy the election process and, what's more, they dress a lot better, favoring camelhair coats over those corny red sweatshirts."
Burt Prelutsky