Pass over the Schnapps!

Q: How many Jews does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 50. One to change the bulb, 13 to discuss it and give contradictory advice to the person changing the bulb, and 36 to live elsewhere, start their own community, act mentshlich and not mention the previous bulb.

***

Hey, have you heard? It’s Rosh Hashanah tonight!

One second, I know that at my old age, memory is the second thing to go (I forgot the first), but if I remember correctly, just over two months ago we already went through the motions? Have we sinned so much that the Rabbis instituted quarterly High Holy Days?

One second, just hear me out…

Oh, no, don’t tell me that ten days later is a mid-winter Yom Kippur…

Relax, it’s not another 500-dollar-seat-eight-sermons-hundred-horn-blows kind of New Year; this time we are celebrating a different type. And it even has a unique name: Rosh Hashanah for Chassidus.

Hold on, I never heard of Rosh Hashanah for the Talmud, and I don’t recall a New Years for philosophy? Are we making new years for every new movement in Judaism? If that’s the case, based on the ‘two Jews three opinions’ principle, we’ll need a mathematician to figure out how many Rosh Hashanahs can be squeezed into a split second…

No, this is not just another movement; this is the energy of Judaism! I guess you can call it the Red-Bull of Jewish practice.

Huh?

Let me bring you an example. Imagine you live in beautiful house, a mansion, with all the delights you can imagine… but there is no light in the house. How much of the experience would it ruin?

All of it! It’s almost worthless if I cannot see it. True, everything is in place, and light doesn’t change anything, yet….

Ah! That is Chassidus; the light and energy of the Jewish way of life. You can live as a practitioner of Judaism by following the laws, however it is done robot-like, with no passion, and no happiness. The Chassidic revolution helps light up the already perfect, albeit dark and depressing home, so that it can truly shine.

Gotcha! Talking about Chassidic revolution, if I recall correctly, one of the good stuff it incorporated into our way of life, is the custom of raising a cup and saying L’chaim?

Correct!

Nu! It’s Yud Tes Kislev! Pass over the Schnapps! What are we waiting for?

L’chaim! Let us bless each other the traditional blessing which Chassidim bless each other on this day:

MAY YOU BE INSCRIBED AND SEALED FOR A GOOD YEAR IN THE STUDY OF CHASSIDUS AND IN THE WAYS OF CHASSIDUS!