Tshuva means repentance – it also means answer.  And tomorrow is the sabbath of tshuva, that comes before the day of atonement.  The reading includes Hosea 14, and I’m quoting what the Lord says from the NIV:

I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
    he will send down his roots;
⁶     his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
⁷ People will dwell again in his shade;
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%2014&version=NIV

This morning I was filled with hope.  After gym and grocery shopping, we went to the local strip mall and discovered a guy giving away free resistance shirts of all kinds.  There was even one for me that I have been trying to find for months: Without Democracy there is no Academy.  Of course it’s classic de Toqueville, but it means so much more coming at this moment.

In a booth opposite the t-shirt table, the Chabad was stopping women to give away sabbath candles and to get men to put on tfilim.  My kids have complained about being offered candy and even ice cream in exchange for saying a prayer outside their school and I have often wondered at why that is permitted.  “Oh,” somone said, “That’s because the mayor got 6 votes from the extremists in exchange for allowing them the booths.”  I had been wavering about the mayor – so many problems in the city of late.  That settled it – I’m not voting for the mayor next month.

Another reason for feeling optimistic.  Maybe I’ll be able to walk on the sidewalk without getting run over.  Maybe I won’t get squeezed into a deal to rebuild our apartment building against my will.