It is interesting that before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we read the Torah portions of the tochecho (rebuke). On a year that has two months of Adar (such as 5760) we read parshas Nitzovim on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah (of 5761), as we also do this year. In this parsha the Torah tells about the entire Jewish Nation being wrathfully exiled by Hashem.

Barak ran for prime minister promising change in government. Very loudly and very often he said that he would redirect government spending from the chareidim and the settlers to the rest of the country, promising new growth and a revitalized economy.

"And instead of your not having served Hashem your G-d with joy and with goodness of heart from plenty . . . "

Lack of joy in serving Hashem, says the Chofetz Chaim, is not only wrong in and of itself, but it is also a disturbing symptom of a certain internal paralysis, an atrophy of sensation.

Taking the Natural Events to Heart