On Aug. 11, 2022, an ordinary day spiraled into a nightmare.

A bus driver in Jerusalem, thinking he’d safely parked his vehicle, stepped out to check something. But the brake didn’t hold.

The bus rolled away, out of control, and crashed into a storefront. Lives were shattered in an instant.

Shoshana Glustein and her two daughters were killed. Others were injured, including a young woman who had been married for just six months.

Batsheva bas Chaya Sarah’s injuries were catastrophic. She lay in the hospital, hovering between life and death, slipping in and out of consciousness.

Her husband, Chaim ben Rochel, refused to leave her side. He prayed, he hoped, he waited — desperately holding on to the life they had just started building together.

After what felt like an eternity, Batsheva finally opened her eyes. She was alive, but her world had been irrevocably changed.

When Batsheva looked down, she saw the grim reality. In their fight to save her life, doctors had amputated her feet.

In that moment, everything she had imagined for her future was stripped away.

The young woman who had walked confidently into her new life as a bride now had to face the cold, hard truth: she would never walk on her own two feet again.

But that wasn’t the end of her story. Far from it.

As she processed this new reality, Batsheva asked her husband a question that pierced right to the heart of what they were facing.

“Tell me the truth,” she said. “If you had known this was going to happen, would you have married me anyway?”

Chaim’s response wasn’t immediate. It wasn’t easy. He did not prepare for this moment while he was in school or get training from a professional …

He took a deep breath and answered with raw honesty.

“If someone had asked me when I was single, ‘Would you marry a woman who couldn’t walk?’ I would have said no,” he replied.

“But here’s the thing — this didn’t happen to you alone. It happened to us. Before the accident, our marriage was like anyone else’s.

“But now, we’re in this together. And I’m not walking away. I’m committing to you all over again. This is a new marriage, one that’s stronger, deeper and more meaningful than what we had before.”

Chaim’s words are a gut punch. They’re not just about love or marriage; they’re about life itself.

We all walk around with our dreams, our plans and our expectations. We map out our lives with a certainty that everything will go as planned.

But then life throws us a curveball, and suddenly, everything we thought we knew is upended.

What do you do when reality shatters your dreams? Do you cling to what could have been, letting it drag you down?

Or do you face the new reality head-on, making a new commitment to the life you have now, not the one you lost?

As the Jewish New Year approaches, this story hits home.

This time of year isn’t only about reflection; it’s about action. It’s about recognizing that while our fantasies and plans are a part of us, they’re not the whole story.

Life doesn’t always go according to plan, and when it doesn’t, we have to be willing to let go of the “what ifs” and “if onlys.”

It’s time to create a new covenant with ourselves and with those we love. It’s time to accept what is and build something new, something stronger, something that reflects the reality of where we are, not where we thought we’d be. (Click here to learn more or participate in the High Holidays with Chabad of Montecito.)

So, don’t get stuck in what could have been. Embrace what is.

The future isn’t a straight line; it’s a journey full of twists, turns and unexpected detours.

But those detours are where the real growth happens. They’re where we find out what we’re truly made of.

And that’s something worth embracing, every single day.