The season has arrived. After all the preparation to get to this moment, we have no choice but to be ready for the High Holy Day season of 5785. There is no fathomable way we could look back to last Rosh Hashana and imagine what we the Jewish people have experienced since then. Nothing like it in our lifetime. And yet, when we gather in the synagogue on Wednesday evening, we will add words to our prayers that we only insert during this time. Zachreinu L’chayim, remember us for life. Each of us have the hope to be inscribed in the book of life. Yet, as we read in the Torah this Shabbat, haniglot lanu vhanistaro l’adonai, the things that are revealed to in the world are for us, and the things that we do not see are for God. Not one of us can predict the days, months, or years ahead, but we do have the power to shape how our lives will one day be remembered.
A few years ago, on the occasion of the yahrtzeit of my brother, Eyal, of blessed memory, I composed the melody below. Zacherinu l’chayim, remember us for life, guide us on our way, the people are the journeys who guide us through our days, remember us for life. While I wrote this song after a personal loss, I recognize now it resonates for our collective trauma. For all those hostages who remain in captivity, for all those souls who sat and sang in synagogues in the land of Israel last Rosh Hashana, but whose lives we remember this year, may they be remembered for life. May their lives guide us through our days.
Shana Tova
