A (Secular) New Year’s Blessing

By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.

This week’s parasha is Vayechi, and it is the not-so-epic conclusion of the book of Genesis. With the drama of Joseph and his brothers resolved last week, and the family reunited in the region of Goshen, Egypt our parasha is full of endings, and new beginning.

In a way, that makes it the perfect parasha to bridge us from the end of the calendar year into the beginning of 2026. As Jacob prepares to go the way of his fathers, he gathers his sons around him to bestow a final blessing upon each of them. This mirrors how the entire Torah ends – with Moshe blessing B’nai Yisrael before he dies and the people prepare to go into the land. 

In this time, when many of us are setting out New Year’s resolutions, which by and large are known to fizzle out by mid-February, perhaps we can take the changing of the year as an opportunity to transition the way our Torah shows us how. Yes we can always make resolutions – I know I will, and I hope they stick. But perhaps this is a time for us to bestow blessings like Moshe and Jacob before us. We can gather those we love (physically or virtually), and bless them as we all go into the next year.

Like Jacob on his deathbed, or Moshe at Mt. Nebo, we don’t know what the next chapter brings. But what better way to arm ourselves against the mystery ahead than with blessings. And my blessing for you is that this should be a good year — one with joyful moments, good health, loving relationships, successful endeavors and, with God’s help, some lasting peace in our world. Happy [secular] New Year!