"Hannukah and Christmas"

Although Hanukkah is a festival with special prayers and rituals, it is nonetheless considered a “light” holiday: no fasting, no all-day services, no lengthy sermons. It is just fun and cheery and especially bright with the lighting each night of the Hanukkah candles.

As we are about to conclude 2009 with the brightness of Hanukkah and Christmas, I would like to share with you a prayer for a happy New Year:

May we learn in this new year that what really counts the most is not the years but the days, not the machines we have in our lives, but the people we have in our lives, not how much we can accumulate but how much we can share, and with whom.

May you be blessed with good neighbors who are there for you when you need them, and who are not around too much when you don’t need them.

May the clothing styles of yesterday come back so you and I can wear all that stuff that we don’t have the heart to throw away.

May the expressions ‘you know’ and ‘whatever’ be retired.

May we sing songs that are singable, that have lyrics that are understandable, and may we not have to wear earplugs when our children play music in their rooms.

In this New Year that now begins, may your hair, your teeth, your facelift and your stocks not fall, any may your blood pressure, your cholesterol and your mortgage interest rate not rise.

May the world enjoy a year that is free of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, drought and political speeches, which produce the most wind of all.

May you win the lottery, and thereby acquire a host of long lost relatives, and may you remember your synagogue and church when you win.

And may you receive a good report from your dentist, from your ophthalmologist, from your dermatologist, from your cardiologist, from your gastroenterologist and from you podiatrist, from your urologist, and ultimately from your God.

May we discover the evidence of civilized life on Mars this year, and more importantly, may we discover evidence of civilized life here on Earth.

And in the darkest moments of this new year, and there will be some dark moments, may you remember that you are not alone, that God is with you, and that God loves you, that is why he’s made you just “a little lower than the angels.”

Happy Hanukkah and a joyous Christmas to all our Christian friends and Shalom for all mankind.