Last Wednesday, Apple announced a huge leap forward in audio technology, using wireless, smart ear-buds with ingenious features and great sound.

I know, it hurts.

But, hey, sometimes you need to move forward in life. And usually, that means dropping something that’s tying you down.

Like your old headphones. Because, with this new release, your iPhone won’t have a headphone jack anymore and your beloved buds are—brace yourself—obsolete.

I know, our iPhones aren’t just something we use, something we like, something we’re attached to. They’ve become an extension of our very selves, another lobe of our brain. To some people, this appears like a kind of frontal lobotomy.To some people, this appears like a kind of frontal lobotomy.

Which is why thousands are protesting, petitioning, ranting and screaming, “We want our cables! We want our jack! Apple can’t do this to us!”

And they have a point. Cables were useful—at one time. But now that they’re not needed, they just tie us down.

Think of it this way: It’s not like you’re losing your hearing. In fact, Apple assures us all that we’re going to hear much better.

And neither are you losing any connections. In fact, these ear buds connect instantly with whatever device you need them to connect to.

Conversations will be better, too. These are smart ear buds. They hear your voice, and block out everything else.

But look what you’re gaining. Add together all the minutes of frustration each day untangling that darn cable stuffed in your pocket, while all along politely pretending that you’re paying attention to the conversation.

Over the course of a year, think of how many hours those add up to. Hours that could be used for far more productive stuff. Like actually listening to the conversation.

And it’s not like you’re losing something real vital to your life support system. Like, say, one of those ingrained, social defense mechanisms.

All of us have those quirky things. Those habits we learned as children and adolescents to safeguard our vulnerability by pretending we’re something we aren’t.

No. Cables were useful. But now that they’re not needed, they just tie us down.You’re just losing a cable.

But not one of those precious cables that tie you to all your material junk.

Or any of those cables that keep you neatly in your neatly-defined, comfortable shell of a world.

Or the cables that tie you to a pre-defined self that says, “I don’t do that. I am secular. I am not a spiritual person. I am not into ritual. I don’t do stuff my grandparents did. I’m not into changing the way the world works. I have to go to work when they tell me to go to work, whatever day of the week that is. I have to be like one of them.”

Don’t worry. Apple only determines the future of the world’s headphone cable. You still determine the future of all the rest of your cables that tie you up in knots and anchor you to your place.

But then, maybe just as Rosh Hashanah is coming around the bend, we’re being told something we really need to hear. Namely, that sometimes you gotta move on in life. And that usually means dropping stuff you’ve become really attached to. Stuff that’s tying you down.

And then, making a connection you can’t see or touch.

You’ll hear music like you never heard before. You’ll make conversation with the Infinite, connections to all that is. You’ll hear the shofar as never before. Your soul will be unleashed.

Rosh Hashanah 5777.0 will be released on Oct. 3 (build-up the night before, 10/02). Rosh Hashanah 5777.0 will be released Oct. 3. You’ll hear music like you never heard before.There’s rumors that all cables and other such fetters of the human condition will be discontinued.

Should we protest? Or are we ready to embrace a new freedom?