Don't Fall Asleep at the Wheel

Elul can feel like a countdown to an exam, and plenty of us walk into Rosh Hashanah tense about everything that is on the line. Parshas Nitzavim opens right after the curses of Ki Savo, and Rashi says the people were shaken by them. He reads one word, "today," as Hashem's comfort. What comfort could there be in it?In Iraq, after her husband is killed, a mother pays a stranger to smuggle her and her three small children out of the country. Every stage of the escape seems to go wrong, and the man leading them grows harsher by the hour.