24 Questions for the (Jewish) New Year

On Friday night, during the evening service ushering in Rosh Hashanah, I read 24 questions in my cherished capacity of Poet Laureate at the Jewish Community of Amherst.

Who do you want to be in the year to come?
Who do you want to meet in the year to come?
Who do you want to walk away from in the year to come?
Who do you want to listen to in the year to come?
Who do you want to make time for in the year to come?
Who do you want to distance yourself from in the year to come?
Who do you want to admire in the year to come?
Who do you want to love in the year to come?
Who do you want to laugh with in the year to come?
Who do you want to surround yourself with in the year to come?
Who do you want to learn with and from in the year to come?
Who do you want to teach in the year to come?
Who do you want to support in the year to come?
Who do you want to turn to for support in the year to come?
Who do you want to heal with in the year to come?
Who do you want to create in the year to come?
Who do you want to play with in the year to come?
What debts do you want to repay in the year to come?
What do you want to save in the year to come?
What do you want to release in the year to come?
Who do you want to protect in the year to come? 
Who do you want to fight for in the year to come? 
Who do you want to forgive in the year to come?

One of the themes of the Jewish New Year is sweetness.

There is such a sweetness, such a richness, in connection and community – in being here together, me writing, you reading, us working together, practicing, reaching inward to express the singularity of our experiences and outward toward the common ground that bonds us in our shared humanity.

This life is fragile. The Book of Life opens. Once again, we are blessed with the opportunity to do teshuvah – to return to our best selves. To take an inventory of where we went off the rails. To apologize and course correct. And to show our appreciation for the people who light our way on this narrow bridge between birth and death.

May it be so. And may many sweet surprises find you in the year to come!

Shana tova!