Shanah Tovah

I have not really had much time lately to just sit down and collect my thoughts. The holiday does present this opportunity and I welcome the chance to do so. Another new year has descended and it has been a very eventful year for all of us, within our personal lives, our professional lives, and as a Jewish community.

The greatest challenge for me this past year has been figuring out how to channel all my anger and disappointment around the realization that so many supposed "allies" have shown their true colors as anti-semites and who fundamentally do not care one iota about the State of Israel. It has been truly difficult to comprehend how the world can sympathize with terrorist regimes who use their own people as human shields in their quest for dominion and domination in the Middle East and beyond. It is remarkable to witness the contempt for the Jewish state defending herself against this evil and how Jews and Israelis are accused of genocide when time after time we have only sought peace with our neighbors. I get no joy watching the massive destruction and loss of life but I will make no apologies that Israel must and will defend herself against all existential threats. Likewise, the trauma of the fate of the hostages, alive and dead, is gutwrenching every single day. I pray for them and their families and share in the collective grief that we all feel for them.

In our own country while I understand that people have different political opinions and that many conservative principles and policies are legitimate, I just can not wrap my head around anyone who continues to excuse the criminal, immoral, and unpresidential behavior of Trump. There is just no argument that I can comprehend for the justification of voting for such a contemptuous human being who has no moral compass, seeks only glory for himself, and has no compassion for anyone who may not agree with him. I truly hope that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win this election because it does feel like so much is at stake in the world depending on the outcome.

It is astounding to balance the duality of such horrors against personal animation and gratitude. For me and my family, this has been another year of tremendous growth. Thank God, we are all healthy. My children are thriving in their last and first year of high school concurrently. My spouse and I are continuing to grow in our own relationship, as husbands and as parents.

Professionally, I am acutely aware that I have reached the pinnacle of my career. I feel immense gratitude for all that I have been able to achieve this past year, in particular, and how I have been able to truly emerge from the depths of grief and sorrow, with a heart that will always be scarred from the loss of my beloved Jack, whilst simultaneously, full and whole from his memory and the life we built over 23 years. I feel great joy in my relationship with Uwe and in the realization that whilst I was once cursed, I am indeed twice blessed with the love of two remarkable men who are each day the wind beneath my wings. Death never takes that away and the life that I live now enriches it further.

I recognize that I have had to let go of some past relationships to continue to move forward in my life as I live it now. That is okay. It is necessary. I will always be grateful for those chapters of my life and I continue to embrace the ever evolving chapters that are now unfolding.

If I have offended any of you this past year, I do ask for your forgiveness and understanding. None of us are perfect. I know I am not.

Wishing all of you a Shanah Tovah.

Holding the hostages in my heart. Am Yisrael Chai.