Happy & Healthy New Year

This evening marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. In contrast to the secular New Year, I'll be spending much of the day in synagague. What little time I'm out of synagague, I'll be eating huge festive meals. I know that sounds good, but it gets tiring after a few of them.

What's interesting about this holiday is that every person is judged on these days, and the events of the coming year are decreed. (Yes, the person can still have an impact on what happens, but the events are still basically decided during these days. It's complicated.) To most people, this concept is usually applied to whether they will live or die, whether they will be be healthy, whether they will find a good job, etc. For me this year, it has crossed my mind more than once that whether I finish the marathon, and how well I do, will be decided in the next two days. (Again, I can still have an impact. If I stop training now, I obviously won't finish. But in some way, the final outcome is decided in the next two days.) This won't be the focus of my prayers, but somewhere it will make a little appearance.

(I recognize this topic was a bit more controversial and opinion forming than most. However, let's not start a "comment war" about this. If you'd like, feel free to email me personally. I'll be back to the computer by Wednesday night.)

I'd like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. May all of everyone's goals be realized this year!