On the last day of 2020, classes in the Moriah middle school took the opportunity to look back on this past year. Yes, 2020 was certainly unprecedented—crazy, scary at times and sometimes difficult. But these classes decided to focus on the good.

Rabbi Kahane shared a story with the students about the Chassidic master, Reb Zusha, who only saw the good things in life, even though his life had its challenges. The classes also watched the music video for the popular song “Thank You Hashem” by Joey Newcomb. Many bad and frustrating things happen to the characters in the music video, however the response is always, “Thank you Hashem.”

The class also listened to clips of an episode from The New York Times podcast The Daily. In this episode, entitled “The Year in Good News,” Americans from all over the country share some of the good things that happened to them in 2020, choosing to focus on the good. After being inspired from the positivity of the podcast, the classes decided to make their own “podcast” focusing on the good.

While it is certainly true that this year has been challenging, there are many good things that happened to each and every one of us. There are many things to be thankful for.