A personal approach to Psalm 145.
Ashrei yoshvei vetecha, od y’halelhu selah.
All the people that have impacted my life.
Blessing my children on Friday night.
Coming to work at a place that I love and believe in.
Different experiences I’ve had that have shaped me.
Ego humbling moments when I’ve learned that the world doesn’t start and end with me.
Feelings of all sorts– happiness, sorrow, gratitude, resentment, confidence, fear, and so many more.
God was in this place and I, i did not know.
Helping hands that have lifted me up when I’ve fallen and even kept me from falling a time or two.
Insight, every so often.
Judaism, the most profound source of comfort when I am hurting, the most profound source of challenge when I grow complacent.
Kids, the fact that I have two of my own, and that they fill my days with joy starting at around 5am most mornings.
Life itself. I did nothing to receive this most amazing gift, have no idea how long it will last, and hope to make the most of it.
Mornings, a few minutes of quiet before the day really starts.
Open-minded people that want to learn, grow, and make the most of each day.
Poetry, for the moments when prose is insufficient.
Questions that keep me awake at night, that I can’t answer, and that propel me to seek new sources of wisdom and new experiences.
Roses, the yellow ones I brought to my wife’s apartment in Israel that first Shabbat dinner.
Shalom, an eternal aspiration, the fullness of life, hello, goodbye, and peace.
Thank you for blessings that cannot be counted.
Understanding what is required of us in any given moment.
Values that I try to live by, that ask me to be my best self, and inspire me to do the right thing.
Wealth is so much more than money in the bank.
X, let’s say life experience. Yes, I know it doesn’t start with “x.”
Zeal, by which I mean “passion.” To thirst for life is to know what it means to truly drink from the well of blessing.
V’anachu nevarech Yah, m’atah v’ad olam. Halleluyah.