Expect the Unexpected

     I admit that I am pretty good at judging situations but even I will concede that everything does not always turn out as expected. One might guess that something may not work out but be surprised that the reason it did not work out is not remotely the reason one thinks it would be. This does work the the other way as well. One may expect something to turn out well, but it does not end up being wonderful for the reason one thought it would be fabulous.

chance

i normally like men who are in my general age range . i dont usually date men ten years older . well , tonight , against my better judgement, i had a date with a guy ten years older. my friend who set me up with him looks young , and she had dated him , so i thought he couldnt be that bad. well ... it wasnt that great either. he was an interesting chap, but the age thing really bothered me.
after the date, i thought i was going to burst in to tears. dates like these are really depressing. they make me feel like im never going to get married. like this is all thats out there and the joke's on me.
better luck next time.

the trophy

my great uncle had a trophy in his house. for years i saw it but never knew what it was for . eventually i heard the story of how it was won.

in 1928, when my great uncle was 23, there was a debate at the local jewish community center. the debate was whether or not the jewish communities of the united states should raise money to help the jews of europe come to america or should the jewish communities of the united states raise money to help the communities of europe live better in europe. my great uncle debated the side of raising money to bring the jews of europe over to the united states. my great uncle's side won. too bad the jewish communities of the united states did not abide by the outcome of this debate. it was 1928. if the yidden of 1928 america had raised money to help the jews of europe leave who knows how the course of history might have been? hindsight is twenty-twenty, but it is interesting to ponder. apparently the matzav of eastern europe was dire enough for a group of twenty-somethings at a jewish community center in the united states to debate in 1928.

and of course , i am proud to say that i had a great uncle who debated in the honor of trying to save the jews of europe , way before world war 2.

emunah

i give people alot of credit who have complete emunah that everything that hashem does is for the best. its not that i have zero faith, its just that i cant totally say that i always have complete and total faith that everything that happens is for the best. i realize that we as people dont always see the whole picture, but i really do have a hard time understanding how life can be so unfair sometimes.

secret ballot

imagine if the results of rosh hashana and yom kippur were public knowledge. what if at the end of shul there was a billboard will a list of whos tefilos were accepted. what if there was another list of the fates of every shul member for the rest of the year. it would definitely be interesting, but it would also be very anti- climactic for the good things that will be occurring. im not so sure that it would be good knowing if something bad was going to chas veshalom happen. too scary. it is best that one doesnt know for sure if one's prayers are accepted. if they werent accepted and one knew this one might do more teshuvah, but one also might not bother. one also might go in a downward spiral because one wouldnt think that any prayer would help or change an evil decree. i would definitely say its better to be delusional and assume that hashem has forgiven us and expect a good year.
apparently hashem thinks that the secret ballot system he employs is superior. otherwise it wouldn't be secret.
gmar chatima tovah and have an easy fast.