To The New Year!

How will you remember 2010? It’s usually hard to remember one year from another- the effect of time seems to be to melt all of our memories together into that jumbled recollection that leaves us saying “I remember that but I’m not sure when it happened.” I don’t think any of us will be saying that about 2010! It has been a year to remember – economic crisis that touched everyone, continued polarization of our citizens- politics, policies, and division have taken their tolls on our land. It has been a tough year for everyone- we are more uncertain than ever about what the future will bring. I am not claiming that it has been a year without any good news at all but I think this year will stay in our memories as a time when we said to each other “things can only get better.”


I hope that those words will be the most enduring memory of 2010. It has been a year in which many of us, our families, and our friends have faced real problems and challenges The Jewish community has faced a hard year also- downsizing has become the key phrase in all of our institutions. That will have an impact of Jewish life for years to come. Many of our memories of 2010 may be things that we wish we could forget! That seems like a very sad statement to make but if you are like me you are ready to say goodbye to 2010 with a heartfelt “good riddance.”

As a Jew I am constantly amazed by the history of our people. No matter what history has tossed in our way, we are the people that declared “it can only get better” over and over. We have never given up or given in… the future has always held opportunity to make things better. I wish we had some magic way of sharing that optimism and hope with our fellow Americans. That fact is that, as bad as this past year has been for many of us, we have seen people respond in very heroic ways. Even in these tough times people continue to help each other. In this age of “less is more” and “no frills” we have been reawakened to the values that are most important. That is a very good sign. The lessons that we have learned have been very bitter but we have come out on the other side with a renewed sense of what really matters.

I will be very happy to welcome the new year as a new chance to make things better- to see people struggle less, to worry less, to get back to living with joy. I don’t know how quickly that can happen but I do know that if we reflect on what we have learned in 2010 we can welcome the future rather than dread it.