A Guten Chodesh!

It was one of those comments that are either a compliment or an insult…. So, I decided to take it as a compliment.

“Your newsletters are clearly not written using AI

I’m not sure if they meant that they are not polished enough and mistake free, or if the creativity and emotional innuendos could only be generated by a human heart.

I’ll take the second interpretation, because it is written with my heart.

As Chodesh Adar continues we will hear the songs of משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה – when the month of Adar begins, happiness increases.
Really?

Just like that?

Flip a switch? The calendar says it’s Adar, so I just become happy?

Happier things happen to me?

Will I change?

Will circumstances change?

And then just like that, I found an answer in a story about Reb Baruch of Mezhibuzh.

A guest once observed him saying the beautiful Tefilla of Ribon Kol Ha’olamim that is said by many men between Shalom Aleichem and Eishes Chayil, and noticed that when he reached a particular phrase, he became very emotional.

“I gratefully thank You Hashem for all of the kindness You have done with me and which You will do with me into the future”

Reb Baruch replied that although he had said this tefilla many times, tonight, he had understood the meaning of that phrase for the very first time.

During the week, we lead very hectic lives, running from place to place, taking care of this and that, often with no time to breathe and no emotional availability to focus on all of the truly wonderful things that are going on for us.

On Shabbos, we have the opportunity to stop, or at least to slow down, to think, and to live without so much of the noise that permeates the week.

I can take the time to say “Thank You Hashem, for all the good you did for me last week, and I know that I am (probably) not going to have the presence of mind during the busy next week(s) to notice all of the beauty and good You send me. So now, when I have the headspace, Thank You Hashem.

Adar is such a busy time of year, with a lot of things that need to get done, and also with boundless opportunities for gratitude.

In a quiet moment, we can seize the chance to say Hashem, thank You for all the good in my life, all that has happened, and all that I know is about to come.

The opportunity will not just happen, we have to look for it and grab it.

Wishing you a month of simcha and hakoras hatov!