During a visit to our fourth and fifth grade class, a student asked me a simple yet astonishing question: “What is the concept of forever?” That moment opened a doorway into Torah, legacy, and the ways we carry one another forward, even after loss.

One afternoon in a quiet park, Franz Kafka comforted a young girl who had lost her beloved doll. The story unfolds into an important message about the quiet power of love, loss, and change.

As we enter the new year, 5786, I share how we can offer what we have to each other, learn from one another, and cultivate a space where our differences and natural strengths help our shared community flourish.

Drawing on our traditions and the lessons of Sukkot, I reflect on how empathy, solidarity, and openness can help us bring peace into our homes, our communities, and our world.