“Now is the time to put into action all the hopes, prayers, and resolutions we made at the start of the Jewish New Year.

Our feet are on the floor again. Tishrei, the month of the holy days that change us forever… The question that we have to ask ourselves at this point is ‘how do we relate to the ordinary?’

The answer that we offer as Jews is… a deep belief that God is unchanging and, by definition, is no more or less present at any time or place.

There are times when the best way to serve God is to look deeply within ourselves, and He provides us with special times in which it is easier and more accessible to make the sort of discoveries that can move us forward.

There are other times in which the best way to serve Him is to interact with His world, to get out of… bed, take a shower, get dressed, say a prayer, and face the world head-on.

He provides us with time and space for tikkun olam, for repairing the world, and when Cheshvan, the second month in the Jewish calendar comes around, we have to take a deep breath and say, ‘The time is now.’ All of the hopes, prayers, and moments in which we saw ourselves clearly committed to growth have to be concretized. We have to see that our checks don’t bounce.”