Rosh HaShana- A Yearly RESET Button

Each year I search for a light-hearted gift for the teachers who serve as Advisors in our Advisory program. This year I found the RESET button above. What a wonderful message for a teacher- a reminder that no matter what happens, there is a always a fresh new day tomorrow- both for the teacher and student. No mistake is irreparable. One can always start again and move on.

A few days after I had already received these buttons in the mail, the Yavneh Academy faculty was privileged to hear Rabbi J.J. Schachter on the topic of “The Blessings And Challenges Of Change: Printing, The Internet And Contemporary Society.” Rabbi Schachter began by quoting an article from The New York Times Magazine, July 25, 2010 called, “The End of Forgetting” by Jeffrey Rosen. The article begins, “Legal scholars, technologists and cyberthinkers are wrestling with the first great existential crisis of the digital age: the impossibility of erasing your posted past, starting over, moving on.” He continues that in this internet age we struggle with, “how best to live our lives in a world where the internet records everything and forgets nothing.” This phenomenon is different from the past, as he quotes Viktor Mayer- Schoenberger, “In traditional societies, where missteps are observed but not necessarily recorded, the limits of human memory ensure that people's sins are eventually forgotten.” And, so it is understood that people learn from past mistakes and can change. However, in today's society we cannot escape our past. Moving on is not so easy.” We, of course, stress the permanence of what we post with our students when we discuss internet and technology safety. Even adults often forget that what's in cyberspace is never forgotten.

Luckily, however, in Judaism a RESET button still exists. We call it Teshuva. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his article, “The Courage To Grow- A Message For Yom Kippur” highlights that Judaism was actually the first world system to believe that people can change and start anew to become a different type of person. As it says in Yechezkel 18:31, “ הַשְׁלִ֣יכוּ מֵֽעֲלֵיכֶ֗ם אֶת־כָּל־פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר פְּשַׁעְתֶּ֣ם בָּ֔ם וַֽעֲשׂ֥וּ לָכֶ֛ם לֵ֥ב חָדָ֖שׁ וְר֣וּחַ חֲדָשָׁ֑ה"

"Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

Press the reset button and begin again with a new heart and new spirit.

In Pesachim 54a it states that Teshuva is one of the seven things created before the world was created. In essence, Hashem created man with a RESET button. It is as if through Teshuva a person has the ability to go back in time and fix his behaviors. This ability is super-natural, as Rabbi Shlomo Landau points out, “so much so that its creation preceded the natural order of design.” As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks notes, “Teshuva tells us that our past does not determine our future. We can change. We can act differently next time than last. If anything, our future determines our past...Our Teshuva and G-d's forgiveness together mean that we are not prisoners of the past, held captive by it. In Judaism sin is what we do, not who we are.” As the Rambam stresses in Hilchot Teshuva 2:1, “even if a man transgressed all the days of his life, if he does Teshuva at the end, nothing of his wickedness is remembered unto him.” And, in 8:8 it says it is forbidden to remind he who has done Teshuva of his past sins. Clearly, as Jeffrey Rosen states, “Unlike G-d, however, the digital cloud rarely wipes our slate clean, and the keepers of the cloud today are sometimes less forgiving than their all-powerful divine predecessor.”

This message of the RESET button is one that relates to parenting as well. When we have an argument with our teen one night, he/she is entitled to a clean slate the next day and a chance to start anew. At times we feel torn about giving our children another chance. How can we overlook and start anew? Every situation is different, of course, but we never want our children to get the message from us that they are so bad that they can never change, or that they are a lost cause so there's no point in their even trying. Each day is a new day. RESET. You can do better and I know you will.

This is an important message when it comes to restarting the school year. Last year may not have been as successful as we had liked. It is a fresh start- academically, behaviorally and socially.

As parents, we are also entitled to RESET and a clean slate. We make mistakes and we need to learn to forgive ourselves and move on. No parenting error we make is irreparable. It is even more powerful when parents can ask for forgiveness, admit their mistakes and let it go. We are then modeling for our children how we would like them to commit to change. We are in essence imitating the behavior of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself- as it states in Eicha 3:22-23 “The grace of Hashem has not ceased, and His compassion does not fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Each morning He gives us another chance. We owe the same to our children and to ourselves.

That brings us to that Recall notice- the product may be defective, but we can only recall it and start again: (My thanks to Mrs. Sharon Risch for forwarding this to me).

ELUL RECALL NOTICE

Regardless of make or year, all units known as "human beings" are being recalled by the Manufacturer. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named "Adam" and "Eve" resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect is technically termed, "Serious Internal Non-morality," but more commonly known as "SIN."

Some of the symptoms of the SIN defect:

[a] Loss of direction

[b] Lack of peace and joy

[c] Depression

[d] Foul vocal emissions

[e] Selfishness

[f] Ingratitude

[g] Fearfulness

[h] Rebellion

[i] Jealousy

The Manufacturer is providing factory authorized repair service free of charge to correct the SIN defect.

The Repair Technician, Hashem, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. To repeat, there is no fee required.

The number to call in for repair in all areas is: PRAYER.

Once connected, please upload the burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Hashem, into the heart component of the human unit.. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Hashem will replace it with:

[a] Love

[b] Joy

[c] Peace

[d] Kindness

[e] Goodness

[f] Faithfulness

[g] Gentleness

[h] Patience

[I] Self-control

Please see the operating manual, TORAH, for further details on the use of these fixes. As an added upgrade, the Manufacturer has made available to all repaired units a facility enabling direct monitoring and assistance from the resident Maintenance Technician, Hashem. Repaired units need only make Him welcome and He will take up residence on the premises.

WARNING: Continuing to operate a human being unit without corrections voids the Manufacturer's warranty, exposes the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will ultimately result in the human unit being incinerated.

Thank you for your immediate attention.

Please assist by notifying others of this important recall notice.