Each year, on the first day of school, the local Maimonides School does something special and memorable for an Opening Day Welcome. This year the plan was for Dippin’ Dots which unfortunately did not work out as planned but as dots was the theme, Chani made these oversize numeral of the new Hebrew year 5787 filled with hand-painted balls of varied sizes, to replicate the Dippin Dots vibe for a first day of school photo-op.
Well, here they are this Rosh Hashanah 5787, gracing the room at Shabbos House. So what’s to be learned from The Dots of the Year?
A year is not all or nothing, it’s not all one color. You could say a year is made up of lots of little dots: points of connection, little balls of memories, mitzvah moments, tidbits of learning… all contributing, adding up, filling up the year.
These balls hanging up on the wall and the figurative little dots of our year do not come pre-painted. They don’t come that way, it’s not automatic. Each of these balls was hand-painted. We add the color.
The dots are not all the same size. There are little dots and larger dots, and sizes in the middle, too. So it with the dots of our year, it’s not only the big dots that matter, the little dots add a lot, too, it is the mix of things that fill out our year. Big and small alike play an important role.
Each ball stands on its own, but also contributes to the greater whole. They are individual balls, not a hodge-podge. But to stand vertically like that, they are glued and connected together. Yes, each mitzvah and each moment has its own value, but also its place in our bigger picture. It’s better when the dots of our year have some connectivity and connection, when they are not rolling off and away on their own, but linked up and connected.
We wish you a year abundantly filled with brightly colored dots, of all sizes, and painted with your coloring, and that they be linked and connected and support each other with meaning and purpose!