Booking peace of mind for Rosh Hashanah

The phrase I have on repeat in my head is the line from the spine-chilling Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayer, Unetana tokef. “Mi yanuach, and mi yanua?” (Who will be at peace, and who will be restless?)

Alongside life and death, sickness and health, we pray for peace of mind, to be free of anxiety, depression, and negativity. We pray to be filled with a sense of purpose, stimulation, to feel exhilarated, and for our eyes to be open to be able to recognise wonder.

The books on the shelves at Exclusive Books confirm that everyone is looking for this shift. With the energy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur upon us, (and no shul or long family lunches to fill the yom tov days), now is the perfect time to drink in some wisdom from today’s thinkers. In any one of these books topping the bestseller lists, perhaps you will find the perspective to make that shift, and find your piece of peace.

“We read to know that we are not alone,” said CS Lewis. And never is this truer than The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy.

This magical book of hope for uncertain times explores the universal thoughts and feelings that unite us all. There’s good reason The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse has been shared millions of times online. Its characters have also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. In it, we meet Charlie’s four friends (they’ll feel deeply familiar to you). We discover their story and learn life’s most important lessons together with a feast of exquisite illustrations. This is a modern classic, a life-changing fable with the same timelessness and poignancy of Le Petit Prince or Hope for the Flowers from many years ago.

This has been a Brené Brown year. Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy, and it’s no exaggeration that she has given voice to a whole generation of feelers and thinkers. Her Gifts of Imperfection is one of her original, foundational titles, and is finally available in South Africa.

Wholehearted living is a process that never stops, it’s the opposite of a one-time choice. Courage, compassion, and connection are the gifts of imperfection. When you choose to be vulnerable with your shame and imperfection, you allow yourself to experience connection and the gifts of imperfection.

And in what is arguably our “season of sermons”, it seems fitting to talk about Iman Rappetti’s Sermons of Soul. This book brings you the best-loved opening segments from Iman Rappetti’s award-winning radio show, POWER Talk.

With each daily sermon, Rappetti sought to give her listeners something special before the day’s tough subjects unfolded on the programme. She wanted to create a moment for them to feel appreciated, thought of, challenged, or cared for.

Some days, the sermon was a motivational letter, encouraging listeners to stay strong and confident, to have hope for themselves and the country. On other days it was different: a call to action, a socio-political critique, or a moving assessment of how we were doing as a society. These few minutes became one of the most-listened-to segments in radio, so popular that people frequently called in to comment on the impact of the messages, even praising the sermons as life-changing. The book has been a constant companion on my bedside table since its release.

Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna. The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great adversity.

Published here for the very first time in English, Frankl’s Say Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything resonates as strongly today as the world faces a coronavirus pandemic, social isolation, and great economic uncertainty as it did in 1946. He offers an insightful exploration of the maxim “Live as if you were living for the second time”, and unfolds his basic conviction that every crisis contains opportunity. In spite of the unspeakable horrors of the camps, Frankl learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always possible to “say yes to life”, a profound and timeless lesson for us all. This is the perfect companion to his seminal Man’s Search for Meaning.

Alongside this heavyweight is Edith Eger’s The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save your Life, the practical guide based on her award-winning bestseller, The Choice. Book content aside, Eger herself is an inspiration. At 92, she is now a clinical psychologist and healer to hundreds of people who have experienced all kinds of trauma, or who are simply searching for greater meaning. As a survivor of Auschwitz, she knows and understands this deeply, and draws on her experience to counsel others. It’s little exaggeration that her work has gone on to save lives and influence humans and humanity.

This new book is rich with perspective-altering lessons, but at the core of all her work is the echo of Viktor Frankl’s Where there is a why, there is a how.

She uses her mother’s advice as a springboard: “No one can take from you what you’ve put in your mind.” The same mind that can seek joy, embrace calm, and welcome groundedness, can also become a prison, and she shows how freedom becomes possible once we confront our suffering.

This sentiment also reverberates in the famous poem by Reb Nachman of Breslov, known simply as Rebbe Nachman, an 18th century kabbalist, religious teacher, and the founder of the Breslov Hasidic dynasty. Rebbe Nachman himself suffered from depression, making his words all the more poignant.

“Kol ha-olam kulo, gesher tzar me-od.” (The whole world is a very narrow bridge).

Vehaikar lo yefached klal. (But the main thing is not to be overwhelmed with fear).

But the English translation of these words don’t quite capture what Reb Nachman was saying. He doesn’t use the Hebrew word lefached (to be scared) but the reflexive form, yefached (to make yourself scared).

So, while the world may sometimes feel like a frighteningly narrow, rickety, and fragile bridge, the main thing isn’t to overwhelm yourself with fear, not to whip yourself up with dread, not to be the architect of your own prison of fear.

Because as Eger says, “The prison is in your mind. The key is in your pocket.”

• Batya Bricker is general manager of marketing and retail at Exclusive Bo