Shalom My Gantseh Megillah Family and Friends,

As another year races to its climax my head is spinning as I try to focus on just how quickly life goes by. I always feel this way in November as the U.S. Thanksgiving approaches and ushers in the end of year holiday season. Thanksgiving is the day to take one more leisurely look at all we have to be thankful for in the past year, before we start twisting in the cyclone of holiday activities. Jews and Christians alike share this special time of year with celebrations of Chanukah and Christmas.

Arnold and I already spent Canadian Thanksgiving, which falls in October, contemplating our gratitude. Since we are also both Americans, November gives us a second chance to count our blessings. Certainly, there have been recent events that have added some sour notes to our year, but I would like to share with my Megillah family just some of the things for which I am personally thankful.

I am thankful for the opportunity of publishing the Gantseh Megillah and for the chance to promote Yiddishkayt on the vast World Wide Web, and for the many good friendships I have acquired through this effort.

I am thankful to live in a country that respects the rights and freedoms of all its citizens and recognizes the importance of protecting its minority groups.

I am thankful for a level of intelligence that permits me to understand and learn from many differing points-of-view and the ability to respect the opinions of people with whom I disagree.

I am thankful for allowing my own problems to teach me to empathize with and assist others who are in need of support in their own lives.

I am thankful for my extended family who is a constant source of support and who share both the good and not so good events in my life.

I am thankful for my appreciation of a cold, snowy, winter day and the quiet and beauty it brings to the otherwise busy and noisy city streets.

I am thankful for the often friendly and loving voices I hear when my phone rings and I pick up the receiver and say “hello.”

I am thankful for the emails in my inbox from the many people I have come to know over the years and who consider it important to keep in touch with me.

Most of all, I am thankful for my wonderful partner Arnold, who is my rock, my spiritual advisor, my protector and ultimately the one person I know I can count on under any and all circumstances, and for the 24 years we have thus far spent together.

As with most people, there are several circumstances for which I am not particularly thankful but, on the weight of it all, I am so very thankful for having so much more good in my life than bad.

I hope that when you sit down at your Thanksgiving table, you take a moment or three to consider your blessings and that they too far exceed anything unpleasant that may also be present in your life.

Much love to all of you,
Michael