Shem MiShmuel (Shoftim 5671) writes, "Even if one sees that in the past, he accepted the yoke of heaven several times, and he didn't change his ways due to that, nevertheless, he shouldn't feel small. He should try once again. That is the strength of Bnei Yisrael... The same is with Rosh Hashanah. A person should make a kabbalah to be better for now on and not pay attention to the fact that he had made a similar kabbalah the previous year, and nothing came from it. He should believe that this time, he will succeed in changing his ways. In this merit, he will receive a good judgment."
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 11a) states, "Yosef was released from prison on Rosh Hashanah." The Chidushei HaRim zt'l asks why that is important to know. He answers that Yosef represents the pintelle Yid, the spark of kedushah that is in all of us. Rosh Hashanah is a mesugal time for it to come forth. Even if one is imprisoned by the yetzer hara, which doesn't permit him to serve Hashem properly, on Rosh Hashanah, he can go free. He can begin to serve Hashem as he desires to do. The month is called תשרי, which means שרי, open, free (ואסר שרי), because a person can become freed from the yetzer hara this month.
On the 12th of Kislev פ"תש, there was a terrorist attack in Jersey City, in a grocery store, may Hashem protect us from all tzaros. One yungerman, a melamed, was coming home from cheder when the shooting began. He was worried that his wife was in the grocery store, as she had told him she would be there at about that time. Fortunately, he found his wife alive and well at home. She told him she had planned to go to the grocery store, but when she opened the door, she saw a package at the doorstep. It was some clothing she ordered right after Yom Kippur for the sake of tznius. (On Yom Kippur, when the chazan was singing Unesaneh Tokef, she made a kabbalah to wear a particular type of tznius garment. She ordered it, but it took some time to arrive. It had arrived that day, just as she prepared to leave for the grocery store. She decided to put it on before going to the grocery, and that is when the shooting began. She was saved thanks to her kabbalah.
