We’ve been working on a special mailing to Shabbos House donors in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah 5785/2024, and for various reasons we went with first-class postage instead of the bulk-mail rate. We took one completed package and brought it to our local Post Office at Stuyvesant Plaza to ascertain the proper postage and buy the required stamps. The knowledgeable long-time manager of that Post Office branch assisted us. We took the stamps home and our team got to work.
We were hoping to get this out before Rosh Hashanah, especially as its a timely item. We packed up all the finished pieces. I (mistakenly) thought it might be better to take them directly to the regional main Post Office on Karner Road, where they’d be fed directly into the mail system, instead of bringing them to the local branch.
There were two ladies working the retail counter at Karner Road. The first took the first envelope, weighed it – and said we had insufficient postage! We said we weighed it by the Stuyvesant Plaza branch (and this woman agreed the manager there is a genius with postage matters) and it was deemed sufficient. Back and forth. Finally, the lady in the next window asked to weight the envelopes on her scale – and lo and behold they matched the Stuyvesant Plaza branch’s determined amount. The first lady wasn’t so sure. She made the second lady weigh and double-weight a handful of (all the same) envelopes, and then weigh them again on her own scale. And each one was determined insufficient at window #1 but more than adequate at window #2. The lady at window #2 said she’d accept them, date–stamp them (there were a couple of hundred!) and send them on their way.
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On Rosh Hashanah morning a National Grid (utility truck) pulled up and said they had to replace the gas regulator outside our house. First one truck, then two trucks. They said it had to be done and would not involve us. So they did their thing.
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Then it dawned on me. The Post-Office case of the faulty scale and National Grid showing up to fix our regulator on Rosh Hashanah, have a similar message:
Rosh Hashanah is when we regulate our Regulator! Regulators need regulating. Our internal regulator governs how we view others, how to experience things, how attuned we are or aren’t to spirituality. That regulator needs some regulating from time to time, and maybe it can use a tune-up, or recalibration. We can’t rely on our internal regulator to regulate without regulating it once in a while. And Rosh Hashanah with all its time for reflection and prayer is a good time to do that for the new year.
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A few other lessons we learned from the Post-Office story on Erev Rosh Hashanah:
1) Keep it local! I should’ve have brought them back to the initial Post Office where I had them weighed the first time. Sometime we think we can do bigger and better, but sticking with our branch, staying loyal, keeping it local has many benefits.
2) What’s an ounce or two you might ask? No, no, the smallest things do make a big difference! Don’t underestimate the power of the slightest variation, the little-est change. It matters!
3) Don’t be discouraged by Window #1. You might have a different experience at Window #2. Don’t give up after first try. Rebbe always encouraged people facing major medical decisions or dilemmas to get a second opinion. It’s good to try things a few different ways before giving up. Some people throw in the towel too quickly. One bad experience and they’re out. But maybe not so fast, try Window #2 first!