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Anita Silverman Hirsch Z"l

The work of Rosh Hashana: 2011/5772

As I mention in my previous blog, Everything You wanted to Know about the Shofar but were Afraid to Ask the work of Rosh Hashana is the work of inner reflection on one's deeds and one's past, asking forgiveness from G-d and any person who you may have harmed, and making plans to change the behaviour to bring about a better world.  This is the work of the Days of Awe, The High Holidays, Yamim Noraim, (Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur).

I discovered this new site to help us deal with the ten Days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur called 10Q-The Questions, the ultimate self-help tool for self improvement. This site (10Q) provides you with a place to respond to introspective questions and to save your answers privately. This way you have a record you can refer back to a year later.

And then I received this poem via my Aleph e-mail list: from Karen/K'aisha Roekard
of the Aquarian Minyan in San Francisco


"I found this profound, Rumi-like, poem written by a man from Marin, a Hakomi therapist, that we will be using at Aquarian Minyan Rosh Hashanah services this year. I offer it to the broader ALEPH community for use in your lives and your services.
shana tova,
karen/k'aisha roekard

"IF YOU FORGET by Rob Fisher

If you forget how beautiful you are
I will remember

I will remember your barefoot connection to the earth,
The risks you have taken.
And the compassion in your heart

I will remember the courage of your questions.
And the tiny wrinkles that make your bright and shining eyes
So welcoming.

I will remember how you shine in your enthusiasm,
Your delicate embarrassment,
The passion and serious intensity
Behind your words.

If you forget,
Come with me.
There is a path I know
High up on the mountain
And deep in the core of the rich black earth
Where we can drink together
From the pool of your tears,
And listen as the mountains echo
With the sound of your laughter

If you forget,

I will taste,
One more time
The deep dark sweetness of your soul,
That wonderful essence that belongs only to you.

If you are tired,
Come rest in the warmth of my hands
and I will whisper
Stories of your greatness
in your ears.

Oh, how I am intoxicated by the flavors of your soul."


And here is the contribution of our own Montreal Rabbi Steinmetz, The Happiness Warrior, 
who I regularly videotape for his blog, On How to Keep Failure from Becoming a Defeat.
 


Shana Tova,
Bonne Travail de Nouvelle Annee
Happy Working

Abigail
www.askabigailproductions.com

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