Glassy: Strong and Stubborn

The yamim noraim have come and gone.

Every year, people ask me ‘how was your yom tov?’ and for the longest time, I have given the same response of ‘ask me in a year from *now*’, by which often, people are puzzled.

And they look puzzled.

So I explain:

‘I hope and daven and try and as much as I can, but at the end of the day, HaShem is going to decide as to how everyone’s life is going to play out.’

People who are much smarter than I, and people who are much closer to the unfortunate horrific events of October 7, 2023 most probably had erudite thoughts earlier this week for the somber anniversary.

It has been a hard year for every Jew.

In ways that we can’t necessarily appreciate.

No one has to divulge his innermost thoughts and feelings.

Things don’t always go necessarily to plan. You know that saying about planning…  Man plans and God laughs…

This past year was not easy- there were tears… for everyone.

But crying isn’t always a bad thing.

A Harvard health blog article entitled, ‘Is Crying Good for You?’ categorizes crying into three categories: ‘reflex tears’, ‘continuous tears’, and ’emotional tears’. “ The first two categories remove debris, such as smoke and dust from one’s eyes, and lubricating the eyes to help protect them from infection.”, the article states.

The third category, emotional tears, is where our people live.

We are pretty tough.

HaShem calls us an “am kshei oref”, a stiff-necked people… Or,  incredibly stubborn.

But look at how far our stubbornness has gotten us.

We have made the desert flourish.

Jews have been awarded Nobel Foundation’s awards in the following six categories:

• Chemistry: 36 (19% of total)
• Economics: 38 (41% of total)
• Literature: 16 (13% of total)
• Peace: 9 (8% of total)
• Physics: 56 (25% of total)
• Physiology or Medicine: 59 (26% of total)

We have also made significant contributions to global policy, economics, literature, music, philosophy, politics, technology, medicine, and countless other areas.

An excellent Netflix show out right now is called Blown Away. It is a competition show for glass blowing… And it is breathtaking… Literally.

I have learned that Glass is a fickle beast.

It can be stretched.

It can be melted.

It can be poured.

It can be made so thin, that is almost barely visible.

It can be made so thick, that it can actually bounce.

All I can think of while I watch this Netflix show, is the pieta  that we said a couple of weeks ago… On Yom Kippur… ka’chomer b’yad ha’yotzer, Like Clay in The Potter’s Hand.