May Your New Year Be Blue!
We are approaching the High Holidays, a time when we traditionally look back on our lives, assess them, and then look forward to the coming year as we ask the following questions: What kind of job have I done, and can I improve it? Can I make my life more meaningful? How can I increase my family’s knowledge and sensitivity toward a Jewish life?
Sometimes our most powerful lessons and advice come not from books or seeking out sage advice, but from looking at the world around us.
Are you aware that a longer, healthier life could be within your reach? The Blue Zone, brought to a neighborhood near you by Dr. Alan Weiss of NCH, may have the perfect answer.
Blue Zone is a worldwide movement to transform the wellbeing of a community by encouraging small but significant changes to lifestyles which will result in healthier, happier people who live longer and better. People who live in Blue Zones around the world commonly live to 100 years of age. They share similar habits such as participation in purposeful lives, following plant-based diets, enjoying moderate amounts of red wine, attending spiritual events, down-shifting stress levels, living within multigenerational families, and belonging to faith-based communities.
As a rabbi, husband and father, I am excited to hear that NCH made a 10-year commitment to bring Blue Zone to our community. One of the commandments in the Torah is as one studies, not to neglect to exercise and care for the body, and there are many other parallels between Judaism and a Blue Zone life as well.
One of the steps of this project is to wake up with purpose each day. Our tradition teaches us that G-d created the world in an unfinished state and made us His partners to complete perfecting it. That is why we celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the birthday of Adam and Eve, not on the first day of creation: we realize we are part of G-d’s master plan of creation. Each positive deed or act of kindness, no matter how small, makes a difference, gives us purpose each day and enhances the quality of our lives and those around us. Teach your children by example.
Down-shift, find a stress-relieving strategy to counter obligations and busy schedules. Look no further than the gift of Shabbat or our High Holidays as days of rest, time to wind down and spend quality family time - another one of the steps.
But my favorite step is to belong and participate in a faith-based community. It has been my experience, (not totally unbiased as you might imagine) that belonging to Naples Chabad, which offers faith, social, and humanitarian services will increase your happiness and enhance the quality of your life.
We all want our children and friends to enjoy quality living. Take advantage of the Blue Zone project to be guided to a Happy New Year.
We must remember that Israel, where our brothers and sisters need our support, is also part of our family. Take the time to learn more and teach your children about Israel, or visit there to touch base with your heritage, in this country that has been our beacon of light and inspiration.
With the holidays at hand, I encourage you to “take the pledge”. Join us and a group of faith-based, like-minded people and families starting the New Year afresh, with a clear strategy to improve not only their physical lives but also their emotional and spiritual well being. See you in the Blue Zone?
With blessings for a truly Happy New Year
Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos
