Rosh Hashana 2008... am I listening? are we, as a nation, "listening"? Now what? Day of Atonement

**normally, these words are mostly my own... today, as the High Holy Days of Jewish holiday begin at dusk, I must defer to 2 articles written this week for the aish.com site.... these are only snipets of the articles, but they speak to my heart.... Oh LORD, Jesus, please give what I can handle of Your sight. Please show me what I can bear and let me act on what You allow. Bless those who read and share my heart, who share in Your Body, and who are connected inextricably to me by YOU. You alone are GOD!**

"If only we could have had a window into the future we would have been spared the incredible turnabouts of the stock market. Even the most wizened professionals say they have never seen anything like it. In January of this year Barron's magazine advised its readers to concentrate purchases from its list of most secure and risk-free companies. At the very top of their suggestions for best performers for the coming year were Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and AIG. But of course neither Barron's nor Fortune nor Forbes had any idea that these pillars of capitalism, these bastions of financial strength, would soon collapse into bankruptcy or federal takeover. So today many of last year's billionaires have to sadly confront the fact that they are now only millionaires -- and the rest of us have to deal with the reality of rapidly sinking retirement funds, plunging real estate values and panicking margin calls."...

"Let's take a cue from a remarkable observation by James Dale Davidson and Sir William Rees-Mogg, financial advisers and authors of Blood in the Streets, who were intrigued by an aspect of timing apparent in economic cycles:
"Even more mysterious is the strange tendency for major crashes to occur in the autumn, especially in October. For example, September 18, 1873; October 29, 1929; October 6, 1932; October 18, 1937; October 19, 1987; and October 13, 1989. Each of these dramatic results, among the largest drops ever recorded, occurred in the fall. The old view would be to argue that this is only coincidence, which of course is possible. Most likely some factor we do not now understand increases the vulnerability to selloffs in the fall."
To which of course we might add the events of this September which are so reminiscent of another doomsday scenario.
Dare I perhaps suggest that this mysterious phenomenon is due in no small measure to the fact that this time period invariably coincides with the days when mankind is weighed on the scale of Heavenly Judgment? It is not coincidence that rules our fate but divine fiat, the result of a process finalized not "in the fall" but more accurately in the awesome days leading up to Rosh Hashana and the Day of Atonement."...

"Without these corrections we would never be forced to recognize the realities of our lives. Greed would transform us from servants of God to slaves of our possessions. We would perhaps never re-orient ourselves to the proper balance between the spiritual and the material in the conduct of our lives."

*then from a second AISH article about what a man learned from and

old friend dealing with Alzheimer's *

"The rabbis say that a person can be recognized by his "wallet, anger, and alcoholic beverage." These are the times the individual's true priorities are apparent. What does he spend his money on? What makes him angry? How does he behave when under the influence of alcohol? Stripped to the core, it's the practical actions that define the person.
Alzheimer's also robs the intellect, leaving the base soul intact. I learned from Sholom that our true identity is only what we have truly incorporated into ourselves.
Soon it will be Rosh Hashana. God peers into our heart, and assesses our inner drives and motives. Are we where we want to be? Are we really even what we think we are? Are we attempting to bridge the gap, to reconcile our ambitions and reality?
As we stand stripped of our exterior veneer before our omniscient God, the question of who are you really is answered in the Heavenly court. Let's hope we will not be embarrassed. It's still not too late to consider the question and work on making necessary changes. "

" finally let us find comfort in knowing that God will surely heap His abundant blessings upon us if we only learn to use them with dignity, with morality and with spiritual sensitivity.
Published: Sunday, September 21, 2008" http://www.aish.com/