Despite the fact that most even semi-literate people have heard (and perhaps even used themselves upon occasion) the expression The optimist sees the glass as half full, the pessimist as half empty - no one knows who first gave it voice. In 1908 a precursor of the expression appeared in a Minnesota newspaper with an acknowledgement to a journalist identified as “David Dodge of The New York World”, in which a fictional Professor of Mathematics named Dr. Nix, used wordplay to generate a “curious paradox”. The joke hinged on the equivalence of “half full” and “half empty”. The words “pessimist” and “optimist,” however, were not mentioned. Then there are those who are absolutely certain that its creator was Baron Josiah Charles Stamp (1880-1941), an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and most importantly, one-time director of the Bank of England. On April 4, 1935 “The Daily Telegraph” of London printed a quip delivered by Baron Stamp during a speech the previous evening: “Sir Josiah Stamp gave this definition of an optimist and a pessimist when he spoke at the dinner of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors in London last night: An optimist is the man who looks at his glass and says it is half full. The pessimist is he who looks at it and says it is half empty.”

In Hollywood, there are lots of people who firmly believe that the quip started with Ted Healy (1896-1937), who was the creator of “Ted Healy and His 3 Stooges,” (yes, those “Three Stooges”) who once, when speaking to a reporter from the Brooklyn Eagle about the gas tank in his car, remarked that he “couldn’t tell whether the gas tank was half full, or half empty, because the needle pointed half way.” Well, regardless of who was originally responsible for this bon mot is irrelevant; what matters is the fact that there is a germ of truth in it.

I gave thought to this aphorism while sitting and praying in shul throughout services for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. After more than 45 years of being the officiant (call it the ‘driver’) at High Holiday services, today was the second time I was a mere ‘passenger,’ by which I mean a congregant. Fortunately, I was sitting next to my dear friend Shepsl, who has been my gabbai (second in command) for as many years as I can remember. Shepsl isn’t a rabbi; nonetheless, he’s as well trained as one, but permits me to look flawless . . . which is an amazing skill. Anway, while sitting next to him and his wonderful partner (whom I introduced to one another years and years ago), I had the rare opportunity to listen to the rabbi give his sermon . . . instead of having to deliver one myself. He was speaking about life lessons on this Holy Day, the first day of the Jewish New Year 5786.

One of the major - and most memorable - aspects of services for Rosh Hashanah is a long recitation of our sins (חֲטָאִים khah-ta-eem), shortcomings (פֶּשַׁעִים p’sha-eem), and offenses (עֲבֵרוּת ah-vay-rut) and our resolve to - with G-d’s assistance - make more moral, positive and productive versions of ourselves in the coming year. Mind you, this prayer, which is repeated again and again throughout services, is recited in the first person plural (We), as opposed to the singular (I), for indeed, we are all in the same boat together.

Despite all the terrors, tortures and troubles the Jewish people have suffered throughout our millennia as a people, we tend to be historically optimistic. We have long understood as the moral of an ancient of an ancient tale teaches גם זה יעבור (gahm zeh ya-ah-vore) "this too shall pass.” The tale, a story about King Solomon and his eldest son Rehoboam (Heb., רחבעם - R’khav-ahm) who was a depressive sort. The young man’s extremely wise and caring father understood the reason for his son’s depression: he never thought he could be as smart, as great or as accomplished as his father the king. Solomon realized that merely telling his son not to worry - that everything would work its way out - wasn’t enough. And so, he had a servant go to the royal jeweler and make a two-sided coin . . . one side made of sapphire, the other of ruby. The servant instructed the jeweler to etch the words גם זה יעבור (“This too shall pass”) on both sides of the coin.

When the coin arrived back at the palace, King Solomon summoned his son and told him that he had a very special gift for him; one he would not be giving to Rehoboam’s brother, Menelik nor his sister Tapat. He told Rehoboam to take the coin and grasp it in his closed palm, red side up. “When things get so far down and you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom,” his father told him. I want you to look at the red side of the coin. Open your hand and read me out loud what you see inscribed on it,” the king said. Opening his hand, the young man read the inscription: גם זה יעבור. “Is this really true?” Rehoboam asked. “Will things really get better?” “Yes indeed,” King Solomon told his son. “Things will get to be so good, so bright and positive that you will entirely forget how bad things used to be.”

“Now,” the King continued to his son, who was beginning to show signs of a smile on his face, “When you feel like you reached the top of the greatest mountain in the world and that everything is as rosy as can be, I want you to learn the lesson etched into the blue side of the coin . . . turn it over now, and please read the words aloud.” Rehoboam obeyed his father, slowly opening his palm and turning up the coin’s blue side. “גם זה יעבור,” he read aloud. “It says the same thing . . . you mean that even the good times will pass?” he asked in amazement.

“Yes,” his father said, placing his hand on his eldest child’s shoulder. "It is the most profound wisdom in the world . . . hold it close for all your days . . . it is the gift of balance. . . never forget its meaning . . . let it penetrate your very mind, heart and soul. . . ”

In these extremely trying times, when a pernicious insanity has beset much of humanity, This too shall pass is an extremely good bit of wisdom to hold close. Far too few can honestly claim that the glass is half-full . . . which is, of course, another way of saying half-empty. For as long as I can remember, I have had a different approach and understanding to Baron Stamp’s formula. To wit, I have been neither a thorough-going optimist nor a deeply neurotic pessimist. To my way of thinking and experience, so long as there is something . . . anything in the glass, that makes me a realist . . . a person hopefully imbued enough strength, fortitude and conviction to be an activist in both the best and worst of times . . . and everything in between.

Since the beginning of secular year 2025 we have been witness to the wholesale plummeting of both individual and communal rights in the country. The upsurge in the number of non-citizens who have been “disappeared off the streets” by masked and heavily-armed ICE troopers, then spirited away to secret holding facilities (all without access to legal counsel or lawful judicial procedure), for the purpose of deporting them to third-world countries that are little better than penal colonies has been both shocking and dispiriting. The rationale for this is that most are members of organized criminal gangs responsible - as POTUS recently averred, "the overdose deaths of more than 300 million Americans.” (FACT: there were a maximum of 62 million deaths from all causes worldwide in 2024).

In the first 8 months of 2025 (equal to the last 9 months of 5785), we have witnessed Health and Human Services (HHS), under the command of RFK, Jr., take a wrecking ball to:

America’s healthcare system, cutting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of funding for medical research;
All but eliminating vaccines for Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Whooping Cough, as well as questioning the efficacy of Polio vaccines, and,
Stressing to America’s pregnant women that taking Tylenol (Acetaminophen) during pregnancy can lead to autism in newborn children (Medical science says this is absolute twaddle).

(n.b.: I for one find it both ironic and ghoulish that our beloved Pouter Pidgeon made his announcement about the relationship between Tylenol and Autism from the Roosevelt Room, the only part of the White House named for a President who suffered from Polio . . . a vaccine which RFK, Jr., and POTUS have questioned).

In the first 8 months of this administration, we have seen the virtual decimation of USAID, thus spurring both an alarming spike in world hunger and a heartless drop in universal health . . . not to mention putting a black mark on America’s reputation in the world.

In recent weeks we have begun to see a rise in prices for everything from artichokes to zucchini, as well as a worldwide drop in sales of United States-grown soybeans . . . which is about to impoverish an awful lot of farmers in America’s heartland. Blame it on the IT-mandated tariffs which might well lead to trade toxicity. We have also had to listen to POTUS “bloviate” in front of the United Nations about the “lie” that is Climate Change, how the rest of the nations of the world are “going to Hell,” claiming that Christianity is the most endangered religion on the planet and turning a supposed eulogy into an hour-long diatribe against his enemies. (n.b. bloviate, BTW is a word invented by America’s 29th President, Warren Gamliel Harding who, up until the election of Felon47, ran the lamest, most corrupt and least progressive administration in United States history.)

Yes indeed, it would appear that America had hit its historic nadir . . . and I’ve left out dozens upon dozens of further examples of this blunders, faux pas and outright mindless misdeeds .

But . . . and there’s always a but . . . we would do well to feed our frustrations with fuel provided by wise-old King Solomon:

:גם זה יעבור
THIS TOO SHALL PASS!

This is simply not the time to wallow in the pessimism of the glass that is half empty. At the same time, we cannot afford the optimistic lunacy of seeing the glass as being half full. Rather, it is time for realism; for taking heart in the fact that at least there is something in the glass. And that something is beginning to show . . . in lower federal courts holding POTUS and his allies’ feet to the fire; in a small, growing handful of libertarians finding their voice (e.g. Senators Cruz and Paul in the recent FCC imbroglio over Jimmy Kimmel); in corporations and universities beginning to stiffen their spines against political and monetary blackmail; in the results of nearly every special election, in which voters have given overwhelming defeats to MAGA-espousing candidates. And especially in America’s historic secret weapon: WE THE PEOPLE.

Now is the time to use the realism of there being something in the glass and turn the tide through ACTIVISM. If you are currently unaware . . . or haven’t given it much thought or commitment . . . on Saturday, October 18, 2025, there will be another nationwide NO KINGS MOBILIZATION. I cannot urge you strongly enough to make plans to attend a rally in your neck of the woods. Just go to https://www.nokings.org/ and find where you can join up for a few crucial hours of activism.

Together we can make a mighty difference.
Together, we can make our voices heard.
Together, we can begin to turn the tide.
Together, we can rebuild America; not through negativism, but through good old-fashioned American ACTIVISM.

Be sure to make a sign, bring a bottle (or a case) of water, and an umbrella, and, if you are able and of a mind, a guitar as well.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!

#1,051: Optimist, Pessimist, Realist, Activist

:גם זה יעבורTHIS TOO SHALL PASS!

:גם זה יעבור
THIS TOO SHALL PASS!