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Elul 27: God Bless Us, Everyone (Bless)

Video Quote: God Bless Us, Everyone
"Tiny" Tim Cratchit got it right.

Charles Dickens' sweet innocent may be considered a minor character in A Christmas Carol, but I think he's the star of the show. The foreshadow of Tim's death - foretold in the great Alastair Sim movie version by the Ghost of Christmas Future by a glimpse at Tim's empty chair accompanied by his crutch - is what finally brings Ebenezer Scrooge to his knees, leading him to the finest act of teshuvah imagined in a Christmas story.

Tim has an absolute belief that God's blessings are bountiful and full of hope and joy. His unwavering optimism - even in the face of his own fragility and mortality - cuts through the misery, pain, and sorrow that the bitter Ebenezer has nourished and nurtured his whole miserable life.

When Tim pronounces, "God bless us, everyone" at the Christmas dinner in Scrooge's vision, it's a sign that God's goodness is available to us all, from the most innocent person to the most depraved. And with Scrooge's transformation, we see that Tim was right: God can bless us ... every one of us.

Hopefully we will know God's blessing without having to undergo the mental torture that Scrooge needed; hopefully it won't take a vision of that empty seat and its nearby crutch to nudge us towards our own acts of teshuvah.

But in any case ... as we enter Rosh Hashanah, let's agree: God bless us, everyone!


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