The Bigger Picture - Mishpacha Magazine

As we close 5780 hoping for a new year with its own new mazel, we keep replaying the unforgettable images of heartbreak, of hope, and of hidden greatness come to the fore

These past 12 months, we’ve traveled to the heights and depths of human emotion. This was a year that hammered home our fragility and vulnerability, a year that elicited both the ugliest and most noble facets of human nature.

It was the year of lockdowns and isolation, of time spent alone – but for so many, it was an opportunity to rediscover the words of davening, the people inside our homes that we’d taken for granted, and our own true cores.

It was the year of lonely Yamim Tovim, of remote simchahs, of separation and distance. But it was also a year when we affirmed our core values and strengths, when we reached out to our fellow Jews and to our Creator from the darkness and confusion of our isolated four corners.

As we close 5780 hoping for a new year with its own new mazel, we keep replaying the unforgettable images of heartbreak, of hope, and of hidden greatness come to the fore.