First Day, Rosh Hashanah 5765
September 16, 2004

THE PARADOX – AND POWER – OF CHOICE
(Continued)

Thus, the seed of potential should burst forth through that which you can choose today, not because you allow yourself to be bombarded and overwhelmed with extraneous and stress-inducing choices, but because you choose the path of spiritual well-being when faced with what you cannot choose.

In the space between life and death, we can choose blessing.

I leave you with the poem “The Gift of Choice” by Gertrude Hildreth Housman, who distills and releases this blessing, as only a poet can:(Kol Haneshamah: Limot Hol, p. 446)

I came into the world without being asked, And when the time for dying comes, I shall not be consulted; But between the boundaries of birth and death, Lies the dominion of Choice;

To be a doer or a dreamer, To be a lifter or a leaner, To speak out or remain silent, To extend a hand in friendship, Or to look the other way; To feel the suffering of others, Or to be callous and insensitive.

These are the choices; It is in the choosing. That my measure as a person Is determined.

Shana tova.