Israel Matzav

Shanna Tova and Rosh HaShanna music video

Well, here it is, the last post of 5770.

Let's go to the videotape first, and then I'll have much more to say. Here's Avraham Fried singing U'Nesane Tokef - the highlight of the Mussaf service on Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur.

Let's go to the videotape.



And now I'd like to share with all of you part of a Rosh HaShanna message I sent to more than 2,000 clients, colleagues and friends on Tuesday night.

Dear Clients, Friends and Colleagues,

As I do every year at this time, I would like to wish you all a Ksiva va'Chasima Tova, a Happy, Healthy, Sweet, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year.

Since I last updated you six months or so ago,

...

I am also exploring opportunities to work for other American or Israeli firms on a contract basis, so if you have a specific project in mind, please contact me.

In my across America practice over the past six months, I have worked on ....

On the Israeli side, I am advising ....

On the personal side, I became a grandfather for the third time in May. My daughter-in-law gave birth to our first granddaughter, who is named for my mother of blessed memory.

I am grateful for the opportunities I have had in the past six months, and I hope that, God willing, my practice will continue its success in the coming year, and that I will have the opportunity to do business with more and more of you.

I always try to give you an inspirational story as part of these missives, and this time will be no exception. This story is called We Are All Miners.

The Chile mine saga and a message for the High Holidays.

"Estamos bien en el refugio los 33." Seven simple words in Spanish scrawled on a piece of paper in red pencil, set hearts ablaze with hope last month. "The 33 of us are fine in the shelter," the words penned by one of the miners trapped deep underground in the Chilean desert, turned a tragedy of unimaginable proportions into a story of hope and tenacity, and have put the entire world on the edge of its seat as the effort to rescue them unfolds.

The story has all the makings of a blockbuster movie. (Undoubtedly, filming rights are already being eyed by the bigwigs in Hollywood, even as prayers are being said for the safe rescue of the men.) For many days the world held its breath. Thirty three men, unaccounted for after a massive collapse in a small, privately owned mine in Chile’s Atacama region. As days turned to weeks, hope began to fade fast, and rescue efforts began to wind down. Then, just when it seemed that the men had been swallowed up by the earth, a boring machine broke through into a cavern over two thousand feet below the surface. When the drill was retracted from the solid rock, that fateful note was found taped to its end.

As communication was established with the trapped men, details of their miraculous survival began to filter through. On the day of the collapse the men had worked overtime, delaying their return to the main shaft for their lunch break by a number of minutes. Had they exited the mine on time, they would have been in the main shaft as thousands of tons of rock came crashing down. Two days later, their attempts to escape the mine through a ventilation shaft were thwarted by a second collapse, and the men retreated to a designated emergency shelter to wait for help from the outside world.

Eighteen days later they were still clinging to life, having survived on two days worth of supplies, each losing between 17 and 20 pounds.

In a remarkable exercise of self-control, the men rationed their food down to a minimum, each consuming a few bites of tuna and tinned fruit each day, washed down with a few gulps of water. Eighteen days later, they were still clinging to life, having survived on two days worth of supplies, each reportedly having lost between 17 and 20 pounds.

But their ordeal has in many ways only just begun. As the world released its collective breath, elation quickly turned to worry, as drilling experts described the achingly long process necessary to bring the men to the surface. A giant boring machine has been brought to the site, and has begun to cut a rescue tunnel into the rock in a process that may take as long as four months.

....

There are no coincidences in our world, and the terrifying ordeal unfolding beneath the Chilean desert perhaps carries a message for us as we approach the High Holidays. In a certain sense, we are all miners. The High Holidays are a time when we stand before God to pray for the new year which lies ahead of us. On these days will be decided our fate, what type of year we will have and what we will receive from on high. Like the men trapped deep underground, we each find ourselves with a single channel of communication to a different realm, a narrow cable that is our source of hope and sustenance, the channel of prayer. And like the miners, our needs are being taken care of from above with love and devotion. Like the miners, we have nowhere else to turn.

Like the miners, our needs are being taken care of from above with love and devotion.

But the parallel runs deeper.

Continue reading here.

Ktiva va'Chatima Tova to all of you - a Happy, Healthy, Sweet, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year. Tichle shana v'klaloteha, tacheil shana u'birchoteha - let the year and its curses end and let a new year and its blessings begin. May all of your prayers be answered for good, and let us hope for better times ahead.

-- Carl

And so, those are my wishes for you too. Please pray well during Rosh HaShanna (even if you're not Jewish, you too are judged by God on this day). The Jewish people need your prayers.

And let's hope and pray for a wonderful year.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:19 PM