As is Written on Rosh Hashanah........

First off, I'm not Jewish. However, my husband is, and one of the most interesting things I heard when I went with him to synagogue was the belief "What is written on Rosh Hashanah is sealed on Yom Kippur". Basically, as the rabbi explained it to me, what is happening to you during the new year (5767 to be exact, so don't write 5766 on your checks there folks) is planned, however by atoning on Yom Kippur you can help yourself. This to me is an interesting concept - how many of us would do something differently if we knew our fate was being sealed on a particular day? We go through life randomly, picking up random consequences, which often swell into one big consequence that we may not have seen coming but could trace back if we try.

Do I believe that the Big Guy Upstairs in up there writing the fate of the world on Rosh Hashanah (and you thought YOU had a tight deadline) and sealing the book on Yom Kippur - honestly no. However, I do think that as we go through life we are kind of writing that book and then sealing it ourselves, either through good actions or bad actions. Some things cannot be foreseen, such as a violent crime, but how we live up until that point is truly us. How many people entered the World Trade Center on 9/11 angry at their spouses, lacking self-esteem, or basically unhappy. It's not the way to live, but for many people their lives were sealed that day and that is the way they died.

What I think we could all learn from this belief is that every day somehow we are writing our own book - and even though many of us are living in circumstances not under our control how we act or the attitudes we adopt definitely ARE. That is what will make the difference for HOW we live.