Dear Friends,

2025 was another intense and tumultuous year. Looking back, the number and magnitude of challenges and threats to the Jewish People and Israel felt daunting in so many ways.

Yet, as I reflect on this past year, I feel inspired by and grateful for the strength, resilience, and generosity of spirit that I witness and experience every day. Ours is a community that cares so deeply about one another, about Israel and our Jewish future, and about the broader society with which we are engaged and for which we share collective responsibility. 

Judaism’s moral and spiritual response to the brokenness of the world is to start small and local. That is why families and communities are the operating systems of Jewish continuity and tikkun olam (repairing the world). One relationship at a time, one mitzvah (act of goodness) at a time, one positive change at a time.

There is so much that we cannot control, but we can always choose how we respond and how we act. The choices we make create the fabric of our lives, shape the character of our community, and, yes, heal the world.

It seems poignant that as we transition from 2025 to 2026, we read the final parsha (Torah portion) of the Book of Genesis. The parsha is called Vayechi, from the word “life,” and it describes the years that Jacob lived in Egypt. The most prominent scenes include his death and the blessings of his children before he dies.

These passages help us reflect on life, death, and our legacy — all topics that feel especially relevant in a new year. I had the privilege of recording a podcast with my friend and teacher from the Pardes Institute — Zvi Hirschfield — in which we had a meaningful conversation about these ideas and how Jacob’s story speaks to our lives today.

In the parsha, as Jacob prepares for the ultimate transition, he blesses his children and grandchildren by passing his story onto them. These blessings are indicators that we are witnessing a powerful moment — a covenant — with significance both for Jacob’s family and for the Jewish People.

And what does this covenant entail? Jacob insists that his body returns to Israel, the homeland of his ancestors, so that his burial will ensure that he stays rooted in where he comes from. He asks God to accompany his descendants on their journeys moving forward, knowing that it will not be easy. Jacob prays that future generations will carry on his values, his Torah, and will keep writing the next chapters of his story so they will become his living legacy and he will, indeed, live on through them.

There is something sacred about looking back and looking forward — at the end of a life, or even just of a year. New beginnings are a chance for us to clarify what matters most and to set our intentions for what will come next for us, for our children, and for the world we are creating together.

Wishing you a blessed 2026 and Shabbat Shalom.