On December 24th as 2010 was drawing to a close, a front page New York Times headline reported “Experts Citing Rising Hopes for Economy.” Heralding a “new optimism” and quoting forecasters and policy makers who were revising earlier predictions, the Times journalist declared that our recovery “will gain substantial momentum in 2011.”
The key word above is “substantial” and to that we add the Yiddish word “halevai.” Pronounced phonetically in three syllables, sometimes dropping the initial “H,” ha-le-vai is a wonderfully expressive sentiment. From the Hebrew meaning “would that,” it has come to mean “it should only be so.”