New Year’s Resolution
Have you made yours yet? Did you make one last year?
Why is it the tradition to make new resolutions on new years?
We all know that we have many areas in which we need to improve and grow. It is not as easy to motivate ourselves to actually do anything about it. But when a new year comes we want to start fresh and new. We don’t want to schlep our mess from last year into this new clean and fresh year. You could really make the same argument on a daily weekly and monthly basis (and Jewish tradition says you should), but it is easier when it is a new year.
So what is your resolution? What changes do you want to make? What things do you want to leave behind in 2009?
Do you have it now? Great! Now the big question is how are you going to get there. How do you plan on achieving your goal? A dream without a plan is like a car without wheels, you’re going nowhere fast. Next year will come around and you will be wondering how the year flew by so fast and how your dream never materialized.
I was visiting with some seniors and we had a conversation about this exact topic. One of the seniors, a 98 year old woman, was giving me a hard time and saying how at her age there isn’t much room for growth and change. I agreed that it might be more limited then others but there is still plenty of space for growth and change. After pressing the issue she finally conceded that she would like to be friendlier to strangers. The conversation then turned to the plan, what was her plan for implementing this new resolution? After discussing it for awhile the answer was clear that from now on she was going to welcome all new residents that were moving in. “I never ever did that before”, was her comment, “But I am excited about it”. Imagine that; a 98 year old woman with a dream to change, a plan of how to get there and excited about it too.
G-d put us on this world for a reason and a purpose and as long as we are alive we need to discover, dream, change, grow and improve in achieving that purpose.
A new years resolution is a great opportunity to reflect on why we are here? What is my purpose for living? What does it mean to be Jewish? How can I live a more fulfilled, meaningful and G-dly life?
This weeks Torah portion is called Vayechi, “and (Jacob) lived”. Jacob was truly alive and he inspires us to aspire to a higher and more elevated life and in that way Jacob still lives on as well.
Shabbat Shalom and a happy new year!
Rabbi Zalman Marcus