Jewish Press of Pinellas County

Does the world change or do we?




 

 

In our Torah we have just opened the Book of Exodus sharing our story of pain and possibility. In the span of a few verses we go from the success of Joseph in Genesis to the isolation and oppression of the slavery in Exodus. Moses is born in hiding, rises to the top of the Egyptian hierarchy, is brought low again, only to become the spokesperson for the Holy One, leading the people to freedom and to the acceptance of Torah. In just a moment, the world changes and changes again!

In our own lives, we can feel that whiplash. Sometimes it is a failure – something we worked on for years fails at the last minute. Other times, it is the opposite, we rescue a win from the brink of defeat. It can be in business, family or even in our faith. The world sometimes changes on a dime. Our choice remains how we respond. How do we react and adapt and synthesize when the world changes so quickly?

Our Torah, our Jewish tradition, offers a blueprint, a GPS, that helps lead us into our futures. This time of year the secular world is considering New Year’s Resolutions, talking about losing 15 pounds or changing their lives. Yet, the assumption of so many of these resolutions is that failure is predestined. Judaism disagrees. It tells us that we have the capability to make choices; we have the possibility of change. It also offers us a model of creating lasting changes in our lives.

Modern psychologists, like Wendy Wood, teach about the power of habits. In our lives, we do many things on autopilot. The more we can nudge ourselves gently in the right direction, the more we can make the positive changes we wish. If we want to eat less junk food, we can start by buying less of it and buying more healthy snacks – not eliminating them entirely, but replacing them with a better choice. If we want to exercise more, we have to make it a more regular non-negotiable item in our schedule.

The same is true with our spiritual lives. We need to make prayer and meditation a regular and scheduled part of our lives. Once we make minyan a habit, it really inspires us. Whether it is attending shul on Shabbat, making challah every week, joining Monday morning minyan, if we take ownership of something, commit to it, we can find great joy and possibility. Before we know it, we have changed our lives – one step at a time. In this way, we can respond positively to any change the world makes – we are ready to adapt, too!

The Rabbinically Speaking column is provided as a public service by the Jewish Press in cooperation with the Pinellas County Board of Rabbis. Columns are assigned on a rotating basis by the board. The views expressed in the column are those of the rabbi and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jewish Press or the Board of Rabbis.

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