For most of my life, I didn’t give much thought to the Jewish New Year until I was rushing to get to shul on Erev Rosh Hashanah.

Tisha B’Av can be a wake-up call, a gentle knock on our inner door. A chance to reframe our personal narratives and our communal stories.

I have been struck by the fact that each time I pass someone on the street, my face covered in a mask, their face covered too, I say hello and smile. Because the masks can muffle sound, often times people don’t hear me say hello, and my smile is hidden, of course, behind the fabric of the mask. As a result, often these days people don’t acknowledge me as we pass each other— at least six feet apart — on the street.

The notion that changing gears after a mistake could be a positive, even beautiful thing seemed like a revelation to me.

In this week’s Torah portion, Vaera, G-d instructs Moshe and Aharon to confront Pharoah and demand he allow the Israelites to go off and pray. It soon became a high-stakes challenge between G-d's power and Pharaoh's wise men and sorcerers.

If you are human, comparing mind is your constant companion. And, a natural result of these non-stop mental comparisons is that we often find ourselves feeling lacking, less than, craving to be, or to have, more.