Next Friday evening, Jews here in Tucson, throughout Israel, and around the world will begin welcoming the year 5787. We will hear familiar melodies, gather around tables with family and friends, taste apples and honey, and listen to the ancient call of the shofar.
And during these sacred days, we will say words that have accompanied the Jewish people through countless beginnings:
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, shehecheyanu, v’kiyemanu, v’higiyanu lazman hazeh.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.
I have always been moved by the final words: v’higiyanu lazman hazeh, who has brought us to this moment.
Shehecheyanu is a blessing of gratitude, but it is also a blessing of perspective.
We are grateful not because everything in the year behind us was easy. It was not. There were moments of joy and moments of disappointment, moments when our plans succeeded and moments when we missed the mark. There were times of celebration and times of uncertainty, both within our own community and throughout the Jewish world.
Yet here we are.
We have reached this season.
And perhaps even more importantly, we have reached it together.
That is one of the great gifts of Jewish community. We do not experience time only as individuals. We mark it as a people. The shofar is heard by all of us. The sweetness of the apple and honey is shared. The prayers are spoken in communities around the world. Shehecheyanu reminds us that simply arriving at another sacred moment together is itself worthy of gratitude.
The familiar Israeli song Bashanah Haba’ah “Next Year” captures that spirit beautifully. Written by Ehud Manor, its imagery looks toward a future filled with ordinary blessings, home, family, sunlight, children, and peace. Its message is wonderfully Jewish: we acknowledge the world as it is while continuing to imagine the world as it might yet become.
That is what a new year asks of us.
Not simply, What do I hope will happen?
But also, What will I do to help make that hope possible?
At the Tucson J, that question is at the heart of our work. How will we create more vibrant Jewish life? How will we build greater community? How will we ensure that the people who walk through our doors know that they belong? How will we care for one another, learn from one another, disagree with respect, celebrate together, and continue building a community worthy of the generations who will follow us?
Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai wrote beautifully about the importance of moving beyond certainty and creating space where people can meet. His poetry reminds us that hope often begins when we make room for one another.
That feels especially important as we enter a new year.
We do not need to be uniform to be unified. We can bring different experiences, perspectives, traditions, and beliefs while still standing shoulder to shoulder in the work of building community. Our strength does not come from everyone seeing the world in precisely the same way. It comes from recognizing that our lives and our futures are bound together.
And perhaps that is why Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World feels like an appropriate soundtrack for this season. The song does not describe a perfect world. Instead, it invites us to notice the blessings that are already around us, the people we love, the beauty we sometimes overlook, and the extraordinary possibilities contained within ordinary moments.
That, too, is Shehecheyanu.
To stop.
To notice.
To give thanks.
And then to look forward with hope.
As I reflect on the year ending, I am deeply grateful for this community for the wisdom and leadership of our Board, the generosity of our donors, the partnership of community leaders, and the extraordinary commitment of our staff. I am grateful for the thousands of people who make the Tucson J their town square: a place to gather, learn, exercise, celebrate, struggle, laugh, build relationships, and simply be together.
Most of all, I am grateful that we have reached this moment together.
As the sound of the shofar calls us into 5787, may it awaken within each of us gratitude for what has been, courage to learn from what did not go as we hoped, and optimism about what we can still create.
May we enter this new year committed to building a community of greater kindness, deeper connection, vibrant Jewish life, and abundant hope.
And when we say Shehecheyanu, may we truly recognize the miracle contained within those words:
We are here.
We are together.
And another year of possibility lies before us.
Shanah Tovah U’Metukah.
May 5787 be a year of sweetness, health, peace, gratitude, and hope for each of us, for our community, for Israel and the Jewish people, and for our world.
Shavuah Tov and Shanah Tovah.
Cochenu b’Achduteynu | כחינו באחדותינו | Our strength is in our unity.
Am Yisrael Chai | עם ישראל חי
Todd Rockoff
President + CEO, Tucson J
