Keep the change: only returns allowed this year
At the beginning of this holiday season my personal prayer is that all of us here and our brothers and sisters globally enjoy a healthy, safe, and sweet New Year. As we prepare ourselves spiritually for the High Holy Days, I wonder about the dynamic of change and transformation, especially when there is energy of ‘self-improvement’ in the air. The big buzz word is ‘Teshuvah’ , commonly translated to mean ‘Repentance’ and implies change, fixing, and ‘time to shape up’.
How realistic is this notion of transformation? Are we meant to reinvent ourselves annually?
I don’t think so. Teshuvah properly defined literally means ‘to return’ and ‘returning’. That’s what it’s all about -- not reinventing.
The High Holidays afford us incredible opportunities to return to our basic nature, our core, our truest selves. When we do that, reach past life’s daily dramas and tune into our essence, the Neshama, something magical happens.
We realize that transformation isn’t necessary because all the answers and greatest potential are right there, at our core, fueled by the divine spark inside each of us!
None of us needs to change (phew), we just need to return to our essential selves and harness the greatness that is already there.
We should not even consider past mistakes as a reflection of our fundamental identity, but learn from them, change, and be empowered even further to return to our innate G-dliness.
So this year, keep the change - only returns allowed!
Bronnie Ware, a worker in palliative care noted that when faced with mortality, the most common regret of dying patients was, “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
We are born with strength, and although we might temporarily stray, it's not hard to return to that inner potential. We don't want to live a life of "What if...?" or "If only..."
The young Rabbi Weinreb, now a leading Rabbi in America, was advised to contact the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory: he encountered a life crisis and was deeply disturbed by unresolved questions about G-d, his career, family, and faith. Reluctant to identify himself to the Rebbe’s secretary, he said he was, “A Yid von Maryland. (A Jewish man from Maryland).” As the secretary relayed his problem to the Rebbe, he heard the Rebbe say, “Tell him that there is a Jew who lives in Maryland that he can speak to. His name is Weinreb.”
Stunned, Weinreb replied, “But my name is Weinreb!”
The Rebbe said: “Oib azoi, if that’s the case, then he should know that sometimes, one needs to speak to himself.”
Weinreb understood. The Rebbe said, “You’re looking for answers outside yourself because you feel lost. But the best answer is already inside you. There is more wisdom in you than you realize. Believe in yourself, and you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish. It’s time for Weinreb to have a talk with Weinreb. It’s time for Weinreb to believe in Weinreb.”
Weinreb learned to heed his inner voice.
We sometimes question ourselves and occasionally feel lost, with nowhere to turn. On Rosh Hashanah, G-d says He wants us to believe in ourselves, and trust ourselves -- start the New Year afresh. We have a choice: stand on the curb and watch traffic go by, or look both ways and within, cross the street safely, to a new beginning. Let's give birth to ourselves, live fully, and with a whole heart. When we strive to make this year a kinder year, a happier year, a more Jewish year, we won’t be struggling alone.
G-d will be at our side.
Rabbi Fishel Zaklos
We take this opportunity to welcome you personally to the world famous Chabad Naples High Holiday services where you see and feel the energy.
It is warm, nonjudgmental...and everyone is welcome at the Alex & Carol Glassman Chabad Center.
