HAPPY NEW YEAR

 For 25 years, a woman couldn’t sleep because she feared burglars. One night, her husband went downstairs after hearing a noise — and found a burglar. “Good evening,” he said. “Come upstairs and meet my wife. She’s been waiting 25 years to meet you!”

Jews are worriers. A Jewish mother once cabled her son: “Start worrying. Details to follow.” Or as they say: A pessimist says, “It can’t get worse.” The optimist says, “Oh yes, it can.”

But worrying, like a rocking chair, gives us something to do and gets us nowhere.

We live in the Age of Anxiety. We worry about health, money, our kids, politics, and global threats. Studies indicate that 90% of the things we worry about never actually happen. Which means — worrying really works!

But Judaism offers an antidote: a three-legged tripod of stability. Like a camera tripod that never wobbles, Rosh Hashanah stands on three legs: Malchiyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot — Kingship, Remembrance, and the Shofar.

1. Malchiyot — G-d is King

When we proclaim G-d as King, we remember: We are not in control — He is.

The Baal Shem Tov said: You can block the entire universe with your little finger. That’s what worry does — it eclipses the infinite. A wise man put it this way: “Every evening I turn my worries over to G-d. He’s going to be up all night anyway.”

2. Zichronot — G-d Remembers Us

One might ask: if G-d runs a vast universe, does He really care about me?

The answer is yes, like Abraham Lincoln, who dropped everything to sit at the bedside of his sick son Willie during the Civil War. To him, nothing mattered more than his child. To G-d, we are that child.

In 1939, King George VI was asked to approve the Kindertransport. At first, Britain resisted. But when the Shatzer Rebbe blessed his daughter Elizabeth with a long life in exchange for saving Jewish children, the king agreed. Ten thousand children were saved from the gas chambers. And the princess? She lived to 96 years old — Queen Elizabeth II.

If a human king cared that much for one child, how much more does the King of Kings care for each of us?

3. Shofarot — The Sound of Redemption

The shofar reminds us that history is like a messy construction site. All we see is chaos — but the Master Builder has a plan. It began with the shofar at Sinai and will end with the shofar of Moshiach, when the tears of history will be dried.

A young girl once wrote: “At the end, everything will be okay. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

The Takeaway

This year, plant your tripod:

·       Malchiyot — Say Shema daily and surrender your worries.

·       Zichronot — Remember: you matter infinitely.

·       Shofarot — Keep faith in the bigger picture.

And maybe, upgrade your Shabbat. Even one Shabbos can change a life. As Rabbi Chaim Weintraub said after losing his little boy: “Do you know what I would give to have just one more Shabbat with him?”

So, let’s give G-d more of His children back for Shabbat. He’ll be very happy.

Shanah Tovah U’Metukah.

Shabbat Shalom and A Happy and a sweet New Year.

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky