Happy New Year 

Here we are again, Baruch Hashem. Have you ever spent New Year’s Eve in Times Square for that large glass sphere to drop as a million people gather around to count down the last ten seconds of 2025?

Me neither.

I think it’s one of the most absurd and ridiculous ways a person can spend an evening with friends.

As far as the world’s obsession with watching the ball drop in Times Square, you’d think the clock only counts down here in New York City and not in places like Florida, California, or Israel.

With Australia in the news these days with the horrible murders of 16 Jews on the first night of Chanukah, a friend mentioned to me that as a matter of fact, when Moshiach finally arrives, he will arrive first in Australia. As he observed, there’s an appointed time when Moshiach will arrive, and since Australia is 16 hours ahead of us, it means that Moshiach’s first stop will either be in Sydney, Perth, or Melbourne.

Of course, if Moshiach is planning on revealing who he is this week or next, it would only be appropriate that he first stops in Sydney considering all the pain and suffering the families have endured of late. Then again, I’m not sure, but I’m fairly certain that when he arrives (though we don’t know exactly how it’s going to work) it might be best for the world in general that he arrives everywhere simultaneously.

So, what does New Year’s really mean for us? Aside from the fact that we have to remember to change the year on the checks we write, not much else. Well, there’s free parking at the meters, so that’s nice. In the boroughs of New York City, alternate side parking will be suspended. But at the other end of the spectrum, the banks and post office are closed and our minyanim in shul will start a little later, so as you can see it does have some impact on our lives.

Here in New York, it also means the beginning of the mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani. It’s a new day for New York, and we’re facing a situation where the mayor of the greatest city in the world is actively seeking to redefine it in his image in a way that impacts everyone but him and those closest to him.

Mamdani is notorious for disparaging the NYPD to the point that he is advocating for defunding the police. At the same time, he’s using over 400 police officers to assure that the crowd at his inauguration will be kept under control on January 1.

His best idea is to send social workers on 911 calls when it involves domestic disputes. He feels that under these circumstances, what the people in distress really need is a trained therapist when somebody might be waving a gun in their face. As it turns out, more police officers have been shot and killed while dealing with these heated domestic calls than anything else.

The plan will work well until the first social worker is shot and possibly killed, chas v’shalom.

I read a few days ago that a few countries are canceling New Year’s Eve festivities because they feel that a large crowd might be a target for terrorists who have a proclivity for random acts of violence. These countries include France, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Australia, and Indonesia. Many of these countries have open borders with a significant population of Muslims that have sneaked over the border—not to escape tyranny or oppression, but to create tyranny and oppression all across the Western world.

This next vignette happened many years ago, but I still remember it crystal clear. I was a teenager living with my parents in Crown Heights. It was Shabbos morning and I was davening Shacharis at what is known internationally as 770—central Chabad headquarters, the home of the Friediker Rebbe, the Rayatz.

A young man was sitting next to me before davening began. He opened up his siddur at the right place. The night before was New Year’s Eve, so this was New Year’s Day. He said quietly but loud enough for me to hear: “Last year I was partying on this night. But this year I learned with my chavrusa until almost midnight, then I fell asleep and now I’m here in shul. Wow, what a change, Baruch Hashem!”

Just a few days ago, we observed the fast of the 10th of Teves, commonly known as Asarah B’Teves. The fast is considered by many as one of the so called “minor” fasts on our calendar. That essentially means that it’s not up there with Yom Kippur or Tishah B’Av, which are considered major fasts.

But in fact, Asarah B’Teves is a different kind of fast than the other so-called minor fasts like Tzom Gedalyah or the Fast of Esther. As we’ve experienced in the last few years, unlike all the other fasts, when Asarah B’Teves falls on a Friday, we fast on that day and carry the fast until Shabbos, where we break the fast at the Friday night Kiddush.

Basically, three things occurred on the 10th of Teves, and if you ask me, I’d bet that very few people know what they are. The first major event on this day was when the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem in 3336 (425 BCE). At the time, Hashem gave the Jews the opportunity to repent of their ways until 30 months later, when the Beis HaMikdash was finally destroyed on the 9th of Av, 3338.

So, why do we fast on Friday when it falls out that way even though it can interfere in some fashion with Shabbos? Our historians tell us that this is because the date signaled the culmination of events that included the destruction of the Holy Temples from which we have never truly recovered.

Also on that day, the Greek Emperor Ptolemy ordered the rabbis of the time to translate the Torah into 72 different languages. On that day, a miracle occurred in which all the rabbis translated the Torah exactly the same way.

And finally, on the 10th of Teves, we mark the death of Ezra Hasofer. He passed away in 313 BCE or 3448, exactly one thousand years from the day the Torah was given at Har Sinai. It was Ezra (we don’t know his last name, maybe it was Hasofer?) who led the Jews back to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile. Among other things, Ezra formalized the way we daven and guaranteed the continuation of authentic Judaism among the Jewish people.

So, it’s a busy week as we bid farewell to 2025 and welcome 2026 with that big balloon-size crystal ball descending over Times Square. It’s a good night to learn a little Chumash or the daily daf and then say goodnight. And as you turn out the light, you can add “Happy New Year.” n

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.