I love my mother. A sea full of words could not describe how much she means to me; her self-sacrifice, courage, and strength are mere words that couldn’t possibly clothe the inner depths of my appreciation. So I decided one day to sit her down and play a game. I looked into her eyes and told her how much she means to me. I told her that the way she ran things at home reminded me of how Hashem runs the world: discretely, subtly, but with the utmost care and precision. As I described how I felt, I got all choked up…tears ran down my face. I looked into her eyes and finally said, “I wish I could be like you, thank you for everything. I love you mommy”. She cried…WE cried, and I lit a candle to celebrate the special moment. All it took was a compliment, a sincere ‘thank you’, a warm ‘I love you’.

I always try to look at Rosh Hashanah in a different way every year. This year (or should I say next year) I look at Rosh Hashanah through looking, literally. I see it as an opportunity to look into the eyes of those people I love the most, to appreciate them in a way I never expressed previously. I then look inward and focus on everything I love about myself, how I’ve grown, how much more special I have become compared to the previous year. Finally, I gaze at Hashem and thank Him for loving me. I focus on the things He helped me with, the struggles He gifted me with and I look forward into the future, at the infinite possibilities that await me. And what better way than to appreciate His partner, my mother—my creator—who gave birth to me in this world

And the funny thing is that Rosh Hashanah begins with the birth of Adam HaRishon. Why is that so special? Rabbi Nachman of Breslov explains in his Likutey Moharan that the name Adam describes a person who strives to know the essence of his/her existence. And so on Rosh Hashanah, we look back at what was, where we came from, the purpose for which we were made, so we can strive to reach what we can be. We examine our beauty and strive to be more beautiful, our strengths so we become stronger, our limitations so we can love ourselves despite them.

Let’s celebrate this Rosh Hashanah, the moment of the creation of reality itself, by being like the Creator, a quality of boundless love; He loves us more than we could possibly love ourselves. And He wants us to be like Him; He wants us to see ourselves the way He sees us. I hope that we will all be given eyes to see.

Shanah Tova