May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. We are told, "On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur it is sealed." For many Jews, it is a difficult concept to embrace. I recall a discussion one Slichot evening in which one person summed up rather nicely a way this can be made relevant to all of us. He suggested that the message might be paraphrased as "you have a limited time in this life. Waste not a moment of this year, and do those things that you know must be done." One could add (or substitute "and those things you have been commanded to do." Live each day as if it were your last is perhaps what we are being told. Perhaps it is true - who will live, who will die, and how is indeed written on Rosh Hashanah and sealed on Yom Kippur. Does this mean we should give up hope, surrender to our fate? Most certainly not. It is a challenge to us. Just as the admonition that Yom Kippur atones for our sins against God but not our sins against each other is a challenge to us.
Na'aseh v'nishma.
Shanah tovah,
Adrian
©1997 and 2003 by Adrian A. Durlester
Some previous musings on the same parasha
Rosh Hashanah 5763--The Dualities of Life