I’m all for copy-and-paste when it comes to greetings and good wishes. Why not, after all? I choose to believe anyone who sends me a copy-and-paste, even if I’ve received that particular picture sixty-seven times, because every person has his own specific intention in sending that greeting and picture, and this is his way of blessing me, and it’s nice and pleasant. And, besides, I have 256 gigabytes in my iPhone, so I can receive good wishes until Chanukah without any problem.
And still, when you finish wishing everybody on your contact list “Shana Tova”, stop for a moment and wish yourself a good year. But this time not a copy-and-paste, and not just as a nice picture, rather, tell yourselves decisively, clearly and firmly: This year I will have a good year!
This is not a joke, and not a segulah – it’s not magic either. It is simply a worthwhile, practical way of doing things. This is how it works: there is a lot of good around us. Hashem gave all of us much good and has showered us with lovingkindness. If we just look around ourselves with a positive outlook, divested of jealousy and competition, and see how our bodies and souls are doing their jobs faithfully, day after day, and view our home and its inhabitants non-judgmentally, we will see how much good they have in them. The same is true of the society and country we live in; the chair and the bed; the slice of bread on the table. Viewing them that way, we will be able to say wholeheartedly, and even sing: “Thank You for everything that you have created, Thank You for what You gave me.”
If we do this, we will have a good year, because every morning will start well, and every day will be happy. A happy father infects the entire house with happiness, and a happy mother, too, infects the entire household with joy. And not only that – it reaches Hashem as well, because happiness is catching.
Here is what it says in the Zohar on parashat Tetzaveh
"תא חזי אי איהו קיימא בנהירו דאנפין מתתא, כדי הכי נהרין ליה מעילא כו' חדוא דבר נש משיך לגביה חדוא אחרא עילאה".
Translation from the Aramaic: “Come and see, if he is standing with a lit-up face from below, so too they light up for him from above etc. The joy of a person brings upon him a different joy from Above.”
In short, copy-and-paste is not an invention of the WhatsApp generation; the Zohar wrote about it two thousand years ago.
Gmar Chatima Tova – may you be sealed for a good life -
Wishing you a good and sweet year, and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalman Wishedski