A New Year Message - 2012

Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.

It was approximately twenty-five hundred years ago that the Prophets of Israel roamed the countryside preaching about the goodness of humanity and how it could be found in each of us. In fact they emphasized that the most enduring force known to man was the power of our ability to conquer the wrong doing we witness every day.

There are many ways we can accomplish what was suggested so long ago. For example: Supporting institutions that give others the ability to survive and even carry themselves with dignity. Every day we witness the poverty and misery of those less fortunate. And there are those among us who were more independent but somehow became victims of the terrible nightmare we have been exposed to for these many years.

It is not enough to acknowledge the problems. We are obligated, as partners with God, to ensure that the tear in our society is repaired to the best of our ability. Each tear in the fabric of our existence should bring us closer to understanding our place in the journey we are embarked upon. Age should not be a deterrent to reaching out to lend a helping hand. Rather it should encourage us to do more because we have been there and have seen what nothingness brings.

Perhaps, given what has transpired this past year, we can reach for the unreachable with deeds. We are nothing without purpose and only when we lift a person who has fallen, can we with pride, declare who we are and truly comprehend the connection of Heaven and Earth.

This time of the year enables us to recollect as well as plan for tomorrow. There is the custom of New Year’s resolutions – a wish list of things yet to be accomplished and with good intentions attached. But it shouldn’t end there. The act of making a wish should be connected to the action necessary to see them completed. Some will falter and some will see their dreams come true. There is no shame in failing but rather in not making an honest attempt. That is the beauty of trying.

Our religious New Year encompasses these thoughts but also includes a desire to complete the journey with God as a partner. The secular New Year enables us to recall the past with the intention of trying harder through our own efforts of will power and determination. When you think about it they are similar.

Yes, the Prophets were right when they declared that goodness can be found in each of us. And it takes a little push called New Year to bring out the best in each of us. This to me is the true meaning of a New Year.

My prayer is that we will all find 2012 a year that will give us the ability to celebrate those things that give us comfort and joy; that each of us will join in creating an even better life filled with wishes and dreams, contentment and good health; that God will look favorably upon us and bless us with long life and most of all, quality of life.