Sounds like a pity party? Anything but

I

think about Shoshana every Elul, and then again on Rosh Hashanah. I think about her all year, but on Elul and Rosh Hashanah I think about the paper in her machzor, and I beg Hashem to give me another chance. Maybe, maybe, I dream, in the coming year I’ll actually be able to write something on my own paper….

After her shocking petirah in the 2001 Sbarro terror attack, I learned something I had never known about my dear friend Shoshana (Hayman) Greenbaum Hy”d. I learned, from my sister with whom Shoshana had shared this idea, that Shoshana came into Rosh Hashanah each year like a humble employee coming to her end-of-the-year review. She came prepared to prove her worth, to request another year, and defend her position when challenged as to why she deserved to be granted a renewal contract.

It was Shoshana’s teacher, Rebbetzin Judy Young a”h, who taught her this amazing concept, predicated on the idea that nisyonos are given to build us, to foster growth, to bring us to a higher level of avodas Hashem.