Jodi Danis' 2021 Rosh Hashanah Message

New Beginnings

The painted message caught my eye as I stood in a beloved and frequent locale of mine — the TJMaxx checkout line. A place where impulse items beckon to be touched before customers reach the register. There it was, for the bargain price of $6.99: a wooden desk calendar box with changeable blocks for the months and days. Accurate and usable year after year, as long as the blocks are rearranged with each passing day. What made it so hard to resist were those inspiring words painted on top as a reminder of promise and hope: Every day is a new beginning.

I freely admit that the pandemic has often shaken my hopefulness. My family experienced grief and loss firsthand, as did so many others around the world. But finding resiliency and inner strength has been encouraging. Appreciating and seeing things in a new way has been illuminating. In almost every aspect of life, we have all learned to pivot — a term indicative of the most important skill mastered during these trying times. Who didn’t have to pivot in their jobs, parenting, expectations, relationships, schooling, travel plans, social activities, childcare? But we all did what we needed to do, with the hope that things would get better, that brighter days still lie ahead. Every day is a new beginning.

As we head into 5782, our focus will be on more than the sweetness of a new year; it will be a time for reflection, forgiveness, and contemplating the blank slate awaiting each of us to make our own. But we don’t need to wait for the Days of Awe to remind ourselves of what can be accomplished on a daily basis.

In yet another pivot from my pre-COVID life, I often work remotely now from my home office, my desk furnished with its new calendar box. Almost daily I update the wooden blocks and contemplate the simple message painted on top. My impulse purchase was quite the bargain, especially for those of us who sometimes need a tangible, gentle reminder that we can always reset, forgive and forge ahead with hope. Every day is a new beginning.

Jodi Danis is the business manager for the AJT.