Middot, attributes or character traits, literally means “measures” or “weights.” Call to mind the image of a scale: The process of tikkun middot, of repairing our attributes, is about bringing our character traits into balance.

I’m praying that these weeks of consolation before the High Holidays will give us the time to confront our sins and respond in ways that will help us to heal from our brokenness and find the courage and resolve to build a better year for all.

As we consider our preparations for the Days of Awe, let us be thankful that science has permitted us to understand how plagues are spread and seek out knowledgeable guidance from those who can protect us in 2020.

As protests continue throughout each of our communities, don’t wish them to end but instead commit to supporting them until we truly achieve justice for all. Show your support. Cheer on the protestors. Join the protestors. And when you vote, vote for real change.

Trying to endure loss in isolation is more than painful; it puts our lives at risk. Rambam understood that when he described the consequences of not being connecting to Am Yisrael at times of trauma, including our fast days. 

Rebuke, תוכחה, when done correctly, looks for an opening, a sympathetic moment or shared memory to draw upon. Before reproving the other, we first join them. Once we are allies, our words urging change might be heard.

"The light of day / Crept beneath my eyelids / And pushed sleep away..."

My search for “silver linings” in no way minimizes the toll in suffering, pain, loss, and inconvenience the pandemic is exacting from our lives; I fervently pray it will end soon. Still, I believe that the secret to Jewish survival despite all the hardships and tragedy history has imposed on us is our ability to cling to the hope that things will get better.

This work is our calling, and it doesn’t pause for a pandemic. Instead, we find creative ways to engage and mobilize our communities at a distance.