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What is the secret of people who make their dreams become reality? For most of us, inspiration disappears before it manages to change something in our lives… How can we transform the year 5781 that just started into a meaningful year?
Our Mitzvot are varied. On Sukkot we shake 4 Kinds, on Chanukah we light 8 candles, on Pesach we will put 3 Matsot on the Plate and we will drink 4 cups of wine. There is always more than one.
Always, except for one Mitsva. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we do not have an orchestra with a flute, trumpet and saxophone, but only one Shofar that we blow.
Why? To teach us that in order to start a new year, one good action is enough. Every big journey starts with a single step. The intelligent person knows how to advance with small and consistent steps, instead of shaking up the whole system with changes that will not last for long.
One of the most important sages of the Talmud was Rabbi Akiva. What is interesting in his story is that until age 40, he did not even know how to read. Once, he saw a big stone that was holed. This hole was formed by water drops that continuously fell on it. Rabbi Akiva understood that if the water had managed to create a hole in the stone, then with tenacity and perseverance, the words of the Torah will manage to enter even his own heart of stone. This conclusion changed his entire life.
This is the message of Yom Kippur: make changes, slowly but persistently. At the beginning, when the water falls on the stone, we do not see any change. But the truth is that, drop after drop, the water finally changes the very shape of the stone. Slowly- slowly, our heart will open, and we will realize that something different and meaningful happened.
Let’s start this New Year with a small change, but that we will uphold persistently. This small drop may light up all our life. Then, at the end of the year 5780, we will look back and tell ourselves that this year, we managed to realize one dream. This past year we became better. The inspiration did not go to waste.
Shabbat Shalom, Gmar Chatima Tova and have an easy fast!
Hanna
