September Newsletter

My dear Friends,

Our lives are made up of many beginnings.  New Year regularly gives us the chance to begin again.  Our birthdays are also such a beginning, as is the birth of each of our children.  Sadly, when a child dies, that too is a new beginning.  There are other important dates by which we number our years, such as the date of a wedding anniversary.

Spring is the beginning of Nature’s year, and after the hibernation of Winter, we can see new life budding all around us.  To some, this new life is a reminder of the young life of their beloved child cut off in its bud, but if you can, look at it differently.  Isn’t it reassuring, even to sore hearts, to be reminded that nothing ever dies?  The end of each season, each plant, is the beginning of new cycle.  The end of each day might bring night and darkness, but that also means that a new day is beginning elsewhere, and the certain knowledge that the darkest night gives way to dawn.

Can we not then accept that the death of our children in this world is only their birthday to another world which is now beyond our understanding?  Do you know the story of the twins in the womb discussing what comes after their lives in this secure environment have ended?  One wants to move on to find the answer to this mystery, whilst the other is afraid and would like to remain where it knows it is safe and warm … But … “There is a time to be born, and a time to die …” (Ecclesiastes.)

We know to our cost that the time to die can be, as far as our perceptions are concerned, totally untimely.  However, we do not know, and cannot comprehend the reasons, and must continue to search for the answers, and our consolation.

September brings another new beginning to our Jewish friends with the new religious year.  Rosh Hashannah is also our opportunity for us to begin anew.  During Elul, the last month of the old year we need to rid ourselves of past transgressions against our fellow-man, by seeking their forgiveness, and also by forgiving any who might have hurt or harmed us.  By so doing, we can renew our souls, and go forward with a clear heart and mind to seek at-one-ment with our God.  My hopes and wishes for all of us is that we will be able to do so, and so make a good beginning for a better year for ourselves and our loved ones.

I wish you all a Shana Tova!

With love,

Betty Wainer

Gratefully lifted from the September 1995 TCF Johannesburg Newsletter