Rav Avigdor Miller on Ten Minutes to Make You Great

Q:
The Rav said tonight that we should get busy before Rosh Hashanah remembering all the good that Hashem has given us since last Rosh Hashanah. But don’t we have to spend the time we have left thinking about our sins and our behavior over the past year and making resolutions for improving this coming year?

A:
You’ll recall that I said the words, “as part of our work.” Really, there’s so much work to be done, that we don’t have time in the ensuing period, until tomorrow at sunset, to do what has to be done. But remembering all the good that Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us this past year, and thanking Him for it, is most surely a very important part of our preparation.

So instead of worrying about fitting it all in, I’ll tell you what to do. You make sure to think for five minutes about the past year – about all the good that Hashem has given you since exactly one year ago. Do that and you’ll be a great man. And then another five minutes about resolutions for the coming year. And then you’ll be an even greater person. Those ten minutes will be a great accomplishment.

If after sitting here for an hour and a half, you’ll go out and think for five minutes, you should know that you’re an exception. You’re a dagul mei’rivavah – you’re one out of ten thousand. There’s nobody like you.

Who thinks for five whole minutes about gratitude for Hashem for the past year?! And who thinks for five minutes about making resolutions for improving himself in the coming year?! People talk about it. But that’s all. That’s why I said in the beginning of our talk, that if you do this on a small scale, then you shoot up and your head is way above everybody else.