Journey of Renewal

Journey of Renewal

September 4, 2025

Unit One | Unit Two | Unit Three | Unit Four

How to Use This Guide

The month before Rosh Hashanah is a time we begin to reflect on how we can live richer, happier, more meaningful and more ethical lives in the year to come. But where do we begin? This guide is intended to provide a starting point for our journey to self-renewal. For each of the 24 days in this guide, there is material for working on ourselves (tikkun atzmi), changing the world (tikkun olam), and connecting Jewishly to our traditions and culture. More information can be found here: https://h-nt.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/HaKol_8-1-25_v5-8.pdf

Feel free to use this material in any way you like. Since we’re offering this material in week long units, you might want to start by browsing through all seven days to see what catches your attention. Perhaps only one of the day themes will be meaningful to you, and perhaps all of them will. The themes are arranged in order of the days of the week, but don’t feel you have to follow any particular order. The first day is September 7^th and the theme is “Resourceful Moments.” But, if you’d rather spend time with the material from Day Five (“Music as a Path to Personal Growth”), feel free.

You can go through this material alone in a mood of quiet reflection, or you can share it with friends and family—whatever works for you. We hope this material will stimulate your thinking and add meaning to your experience of this high holiday season. And, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us what worked for you. And give us ideas to make this guide better for the future.

We’ve divided the 24 days into four units. The individual essays for reflection will revolve around these four themes:

Unit One: Challenge Conventional Wisdom

Unit Two: Change Your Perspective

Unit Three: Seek Connection and Integration

Unit Four: Finding Your Voice

For example, in unit one, the individual reflections for “Working on Yourself” connect to the theme of Challenging Conventional Wisdom. The Rabbis of the Talmud often intentionally made unconventional statements to shake us up and encourage us to think outside the box. In each of the examples below, there is some defiance of conventional thinking.

Day One: We tend to think of Teshuvah/Repentance as examining our faults. But it is also possible to start from our strengths and to build out from there.
Day Two: We assume that action flows from inner motivation. The Rabbis teach us that often the reverse is true.
Day Three: In a tolerant society, we are suspicious of judgement. But we can look at judgment as elevating us.
Day Four: We think of selfishness as being a negative trait. The Rabbis challenge us to see it as potentially positive.
Day Seven: We assume that Judaism centers upon Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Yet, shabbat encourages us to become better people by taking a break from fixing anything or anyone.

In each section, you will also find information on Tzekaka/Tikkun Olam

We want to give you an idea of the tremendous amount of creative work being done in the global and Jewish community. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. And, our intention is not to endorse particular organizations, but simply to offer you a broad perspective on the extraordinarily diverse efforts taking place within the mainstream Jewish and secular world.

To further advance your reflections, the Connecting Jewishly Section provides links to the best in contemporary Jewish thought and culture through podcasts, texts, articles and music.

Join us for a journey of Jewish renewal and tell us how you did! What worked best for you? We will have Weekly Share Backs at 10:00 AM on Fridays, September 19 & 26 Only On Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2280574426

Unit One: Challenge Conventional Wisdom

Day One (September 7)

Working on yourself

Resourceful Moments: Revisit your most precious memories.

As we mentioned in our Introductory Essay, every one of us has experienced moments of deep satisfaction, inner serenity, joyful enthusiasm, a time we felt especially alive, a moment when someone or something has touched us deeply, moments when we have felt at the peak of our powers, in the zone, moments of deep connection with another person, with nature, or with something larger than ourselves.

Rabbi Pliskin suggests that every time we experience such a positive state, large or small, we give it a name and write it down. Then from time to time, we should revisit these moments.

You’re a teacher and you’ve reached an especially difficult student
You’re a parent and you’ve had an especially sweet moment with your child
You solved an especially hard problem at work
A friend came to you for sympathy and advice, and it made you feel really good that after they talked to you, they felt better
You got caught up in a song or a piece of music
You recall especially happy moments of your childhood
- Rising and falling on the ocean waves
- The taste of grape popsicles on a hot summer day

The point of keeping track of these Resourceful Moments is not to live in the past. Rather, when we revisit these moments it’s to remind us of the success and joy that we are capable of. When we return to these memories, we should ask ourselves—what was working so well for me at this moment? How can I take something of this experience, expand it and apply it in new ways?

Actions

Make a list of three Resourceful Moments. Encourage someone you’re close with to do the same. Then share them with each other.

Ask yourselves what was it about this moment that you loved so much?
Were there any other moments in your life that resembled this one, that gave you a similar feeling?
If you could, what might you do to grow the feeling you had at this moment, or bring some of that ‘special sauce’ to a new situation?

With someone you’re really close to, make a list of three Resourceful Moments in your relationship. They don’t have to be spectacular or dramatic. They could be small moments of connection. Share them with each other and explore what made them so meaningful and pleasurable.

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

Herzl Ner Tamid: Your synagogue is doing amazing things! Learn all about it from the latest issue of Hakol, Ekol, and our website: h-nt.org

Connecting Jewishly

Podcast: For Heaven’s Sake

For Heaven’s Sake is a weekly podcast presented by Ark Media and the Shalom Hartman Institute, hosted by Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi. The podcast draws its name from the Jewish concept of machloket l’shem shemayim, “disagreeing for the sake of heaven,” which is exactly what takes place each week as Donniel and Yossi discuss the moral aspects of topics affecting Israel, world Jewry, and the future of Zionism. https://www.hartman.org.il/program/for-heavens-sake-podcast. hartman.org.il/program/for-heavens-sake-podcast/

Take a look at all the podcasts. We especially recommend TEXTing with Rabbi Elana Stein Hain: https://www.hartman.org.il/program/texting/

In addition, it’s worth checking out the iengage Video Lecture Series at https://www.hartman.org.il/program/iengage-project-video-lecture-series/

Each series contains 14 lectures of superb Jewish depth and quality. They are $500 for each series. Consider gathering a group of friends to see a series together and ask the synagogue to help you.

Day Two (September 8)

Working on yourself

Titchadesh: change on the outside that triggers change on the inside

When we see a friend wearing a new shirt, tie or dress, it is customary to say to them “Titchadesh” (for a male) or “Titchadshi” (for a female). The word means “renew yourself,” and what we are saying is: “Just as you are new on the outside, so may you be new on the inside.”

The idea that an external change could inspire an inner change in us is one of the fundamental building blocks of Jewish thought and practice. Among the numerous examples:

When we sanctify the New Moon (“Kiddush Levana”), we say: “We look forward to the day when the Jewish people is renewed, just as the light of the new moon is renewed.”
In the weekday morning prayer service, after we thank God for the morning light of the sun, we say: “Cause a new light (signifying hope, redemption, transformation) to shine upon Zion (the Jewish people/the land and people of Israel).
When we physically awaken from sleep in the morning, we pray that we will have an emotional and spiritual awakening, too.
When we physically regain our strength after a full night’s sleep, we pray that we will regain our emotional strength—our vitality, our drive, our optimism and our sense of hope in the future.
We look to the renewal of nature in springtime to inspire inner renewal at Passover time.

Conventional wisdom tells us that our behavior follows our inner motivation. But Jewish tradition teaches us that it can just as easily be the other way around. At Sinai, the Jewish people responded “Naaseh v’nishmah/We will do and we will understand.” That is, our behavior will come first, and our inner response will follow.

A lot of important human behavior conforms to this pattern. For example, we assume that we act kindly towards those whom we care for. But experience often teaches us that we care about those we treat kindly. When our children are born, they are strangers to us. It is by taking care of them day in and day out that we develop powerful bonds of affection for them.

On the other end of the life cycle, professionals who care for the elderly begin to treat them kindly without really knowing them. Over time, these care givers develop powerful bonds of connection to the people they are caring for.

Reflection

How much newness is in your life right now? How much newness can you absorb?
Have the new experiences of your life in the past year changed you in any way? If so, how?
What kind of new directions might you want to pursue in the coming year?

Action

Buy something new to wear in honor of the New Year. Then teach your family and friends to say “Titchadesh” whenever they see you or anyone else wearing something new for the first time.

Do something new during the 40-day period of Elul through Yom Kippur. Watch a new tv show, see a new movie, go to a new restaurant, try a new recipe, read a new book, try a new genre of books, listen to a new song, explore a new genre of music, take a hike you’ve never taken before, travel to a new city or country.

How might you use external change to inspire inner change?
- Choose one act of kindness and commit yourself to doing it daily. For example, resolve to give at least one compliment to someone you love every single day. Conventional wisdom tells us that we compliment someone when our heart moves us to do it. But it’s equally true, that by acting kindly, even in advance of strong motivation, feelings of affection can grow.
  - We’re not asking you to say something insincere. Rather, look for an opportunity each day to express sincere praise. Do this for the 40 days of the high holiday period. Reflect on whether this daily action had an impact on your inner feelings.

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Pacific Northwest Region

For over 75 years, ADL’s Pacific Northwest Region has provided services and resources to the five states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. In the Pacific Northwest region, ADL delivers local programs that promote inclusion and respect in schools, trains law enforcement on hate crimes and white supremacy, advocate for civil rights policies, builds bridges with diverse communities, and assists victims of antisemitism, discrimination and bias. seattle.adl.org

Connecting Jewishly

Podcast: Identity Crisis

In a frenzied media cycle, the Identity/Crisis podcast creates better conversations about the issues facing contemporary Jewish life. Host Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, talks with leading thinkers to unpack current events affecting Jewish communities in North America, Israel, and around the world, revealing the core Jewish values underlying the issues that matter most to you. hartman.org.il/program/identity-crisis-podcast/

Day Three (September 9)

Working on yourself

Become More Judgmental: Learn to be a better critic

In a tolerant society, the worst thing someone could say about us is that we are judgmental. To pass judgment on another person’s choices is to be self-righteous and narrow-minded.

Of course, no one likes a dictator. But Jewish tradition looks favorably on the act of judgment. To be free is to be able to choose. And, to choose is to make a judgment about what is right and wrong, what is of high quality or low quality. God creates the world by judging whether what God has created is satisfactory or whether it needs to be fixed. When God created the light, God stepped back and saw ‘ki tov,’ that it was good. That was a judgment call.

Similarly, when God wasn’t satisfied with the excellence of God’s creation, God said, ‘this is not good.’ Thus, God looks at Adam and declares, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make a helpmate for him.” We call this ability to distinguish between what we think is good and not good critical thinking. And, intuitively, we regard our ability to be skilled critics as essential to our humanity.

Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University put it this way recently in the New York Times:

“One goal of teaching is to give student the tools to articulate what they experience. You don’t need a specialized vocabulary to know that you like a piece of music, or that the Doobie Brothers’ “Minute by Minute” is a sweet jam. But, when I teach the course my university calls Music Humanities, by helping students learn precise terminology, I can help them identify what precisely makes that song so pleasing, how the different elements work together, why they produce the effect that they do.

Another goal is to expand the range of what students encounter, to introduce them to splendors they may not yet know…What makes those seemingly static paintings of the Middle Ages invaluable? What was genius about how Charlie Parker played the saxophone? Why should you know dismiss Wallace Stevens’s poetry as impenetrable self-indulgence from the occupant of a Connecticut porch…” (NYT op.ed., 6/14/25)

Each of us regards ourselves as connoisseurs in more than one area. We have very specific tastes in food, wine, music, art, sports and more. We are all amateur critics, not because we are negative, but because the ability to make choices based on fine distinctions is what makes us who we are.

In choosing to drink a particular wine or to listen to a particular piece of music, we are defining our very identity. And our appreciation of excellence has a kind of “it takes one to know one” quality. When we call attention to the beauty of what someone else has created, we are expressing something about our own creative spark at the same time.

Reflection and Action

List the different categories of life in which you make conscious choices to experience something based on your judgment of their excellence. How is this true of:
- The music you listen to?
- The food you eat or cook; the restaurants you frequent?
- The wine you drink?
- The articles and books you read?
- The podcasts you listen to?
- The plays, movies and tv shows you watch?
- The work that you do?

Choose at least one of these categories and try to articulate what it is you find so impressive or attractive about your choice. For example, if you like a particular song, what makes it so great? What impresses you or moves you about this music? If you read a novel you loved, what did you appreciate about the writer?

Consider how you might become a better critic (a better judge of excellence) in the coming year in any of the categories in which you exercise judgment.

How might you apply your critical judgment skills in a category where you feel expertise to a new area of your life?
- If you appreciate good music, could you learn to appreciate good art? If you know classical music well, could you expand into an appreciation of jazz?
- Is your judgment of character in a friend as nuanced as your selection of a fine wine?
- Is your moral palate as sensitive as your physical palate? Are you as sensitive to nuance in your moral judgments as you are in the food that you choose to eat?

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

Jewish Family Service

Jewish Family Service supports the needs of Jewish individuals and families, refugees and immigrants, and our broader community to achieve well-being, health, and stability. jfsseattle.org

Connecting Jewishly

Podcast: Call Me Back

Political and geopolitical analysis of Israel affairs from the world’s top experts, hosted by Dan Senor. https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

Podcast: Honestly with Bari Weiss

The most interesting conversations in American life happen in private. This show brings them out of the closet. Stories no one else is telling. Not always specifically Jewish, but often related to Israel, the American Jewish scene and antisemitism. https://open.spotify.com/show/0GRPAKeSMASfbQ7VgNwYCR

Day Four (September 10)

Working on yourself

Befriend Your Yetzer Hara/Selfish Inclination

The Rabbis of the Talmud picture human beings as being two sided. We have a Yetzer HaTov, a part of us that is good-hearted, generous and loving, and a Yetzer HaRa, a part of us that is self-centered and egotistical. The Rabbis make the surprising claim that ‘The Yetzer HaRa is good!’ They explain: “Were it not for the Yetzer HaRa, human beings would not build houses, engage in business, or marry.”

What did the Rabbis mean? The Rabbis understood that what would be considered self-serving in isolation, can serve a worthy goal if it is harnessed to our generous side. For example, there is a drive for excellence within us that motivates us to compete with our neighbors to be the best. By itself, there is nothing generous about our desire to win the race. But what if we combine that competitive drive with our desire to spread knowledge in the world? Then we would get colleges competing with each other for who could provide the best education. There is nothing noble about the competition itself, but if it is done fairly, the result is that life is better for many people.

The competitive drive is so powerful in us that it makes its way into even our most idealistic moments. For example, Moses was described by the Torah as ‘the most humble person on the face of the earth.’ Being the most of anything suggests that there is a competition and you are the winner. How can a person win a competition to be humble? Being humble is the opposite of being competitive!

Or the Torah describes the moment that Joseph broke down in tears and revealed himself to his brothers this way: “V’lo amad ish ito, b’hitvada Yosef el echav.” It is possible to creatively translate this way: “Joseph had no peer when he revealed himself to his brothers.” That is, Joseph’s moment of greatness, when he stood above everyone else, was precisely when he humbled himself and opened his heart to the brothers who had hurt him.

Joseph was by nature highly competitive. At age seventeen, he dreamed of his brothers and even his parents bowing down to him. Joseph’s ambitions were finally realized in a spectacular way when he was made viceroy of Egypt, deputy to Pharoah. We could see this as a great example of the Yetzer HaRa (blind ambition) working in tandem with the Yetzer HaTov, our giving side. Only an ambitious person could become leader of Egypt. But Joseph used his personal drive to help people, not to dominate them. His plan saved Egypt from starvation.

But that’s not all. As much as Joseph was famous at the time for rescuing Egypt from hunger, that’s not how he is remembered in history. He is famous precisely for the qualities that don’t help people win—his willingness to make himself vulnerable and to be touched to the point of tears by his brothers’ generosity and heroism. We could say that Joseph was the best at not caring who was the best.

Our competitive side is so powerful that it is even an essential part of love. The poet in Song of Songs says of the woman he loves: “Like a lily among the thorns, so is my beloved compared to the other maidens.” It seems impossible to completely eliminate the competitive drive from even the most noble of human acts. And we shouldn’t have to. Our drive to be the best is at least in part our desire to be uniquely ourselves and to be appreciated and valued for what we are and no one else is. As long as we give everyone a chance to be valued in this way, our desire to shine is a good thing.

Reflection

Become aware of the role of competitiveness in your life.
- What are you competing for? What are you trying to do best? What do you most want to be recognized for?
- Where do you feel you are ahead in the competition?
- Where do you feel you are behind?
- Whom are you competing with?
  - Your friends
  - Your family?
  - Your co-workers/colleagues?
- Where do you feel you are over competing?
- In what ways are you channeling your competitive spirit into doing good?
- What would you like to change in the area of competitiveness and ambition?
- How might you channel your competitive spirit in the new constructive ways?

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle

The Federation leads a strong Jewish Puget Sound by serving as a community voice, strengthening connections to Israel and World Jewry, and making investments in Jewish life, for today and the next generation. jewishinseattle.org

Connecting Jewishly

Podcast: Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis

Israel from the Inside is for people who want to understand Israel with nuance, who believe that Israel is neither hopelessly flawed and illegitimate, nor beyond critique. If thoughtful analysis of Israel and its people interests you, this podcast is for you. https://danielgordis.substack.com/podcast (paid subscription)

Day 5 (September 11)

Working on yourself

Music as a path to personal growth – Theme: Integrity

Selection: “Satisfied Mind” by Willie Nelson

Listen to the song by Willie Nelson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYmuFuJ0iUw

Reflect on these words: “Money can’t buy back your youth when you’re old / Or a friend when you’re lonely, or a love that’s grown cold.”
- What does this lyric say about the true sources of meaning in life?
- During the past year, have your priorities reflected these truths?
Reflect on these words: “The wealthiest person is a pauper at times / Compared to the man with a satisfied mind.”
- What does “a satisfied mind” mean to you?
- Do you feel you’ve cultivated that kind of inner wealth this past year? Why or why not?
When in the past year have you felt truly content or grateful? What conditions contributed to that feeling?
If a “satisfied mind” is the end goal, what obstacles (habits, regrets, distractions) stand in your way?

The famous Yiddish writer Y.L. Peretz once said: “A Jew is someone who can’t sleep and doesn’t let anyone else sleep either.”

What do you think Peretz meant by this?
Is it ‘un-Jewish’ to seek peace of mind?

The Torah describes Abraham’s death this way:

“And Abraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented (in Hebrew: ‘zakein v’savei’a’); and he was gathered unto his kin.”

Abraham’s life was tumultuous. He left his father’s house to purse a distant dream in a strange land: he endured the kidnapping of his wife Sarah, famine, infertility until he finally had a son with Sarah at age 100; the near death of both of his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, war to save his nephew lot, and in old age the anxiety that his son would go off to a distant land and everything he’d worked for would come to nought.
- How is it possible to describe a life like this as ‘contented’?

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

American Jewish Committee

AJC Seattle connects our community with American Jewish Committee’s global advocacy work to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel. AJC’s access to diplomats, elected officials, and interfaith leaders at the local level advances AJC’s broader global priorities: combating antisemitism, promoting Israel’s place in the world, and countering the spread of radicalism and extremism. ajc.org

Connecting Jewishly

Hebrew word for the day

Time to boost your Hebrew vocabulary! Our daily email provides you with a new word every day to discover from Hebrew (and sometimes other Jewish languages!) https://www.myjewishlearning.com/hebrew-word-of-the-day/ . Then check out the wide variety of Hebrew language classes offered at HNT at https://h-nt.org/year-round-adult-learning/

Day Six (September 12)

Working on Yourself

Embrace the Gubeiko Spirit

Rav Nachman of Bratslav raised the question: “In the Exodus story, why is it so important that the matzah was baked in a hurry? What does this have to do with the message of liberation?”

He answers: “When God sends us a ray of redemption as a lifeline indicating we need to change our life, it is essential that we seize it immediately, not delay and not procrastinate. If the Jews in Egypt had thought too much about whether they should leave Egypt, they may never have left. They could easily have worried about where they would stay when they left, where they would find food and water and what dangers awaited them on the road. They suppressed these fears, seized the moment, and liberated themselves.”

Rav Nachman says that when hesitation paralyzes us from liberating ourselves, we should imagine that a lion has entered our house. At that moment, it is foolish to worry about where we will stay for the night once we have escaped the lion. We run out of the house, and we worry about the next stage later.

Rav Nachman is telling us that the impulse to do teshuvah must be accompanied by a sense of urgency, otherwise it may never happen. That sense of urgency is reflected in the famous piyyut at the end of the high holiday Musaf service by the word ‘hayom/today’ which, especially when we sing it, is repeated over and over again. It’s as if we are reminding ourselves how important it is that we act now and not put off change until tomorrow.

Te-Ping Chen’s provocative short story “Gubeiko Spirit” captures the theme of hesitancy to liberate ourselves in an especially compelling way. It makes for great pre-high holiday reading. If you would like a copy of this short story, please reach out directly to Rabbi Rosenbaum at RabbiRosenbaum@h-nt.org

Read the story (copies are available in the shul office) and reflect on the following questions:

What is the central conflict in this story?
Why does the protagonist hesitate or delay?
Doors, thresholds, and movement appear in the story. What do they symbolize?
How are these images connected to ideas of transition, hesitation, or missed opportunity?
How does this story mirror the themes of Neilah at the end of Yom Kippur?
In what ways is the “Gubeiko moment” like the final call before the gates close?

What are the implications of this story for how we view personal change or redemption?
How might the story reflect the experience of waiting for the Messiah or missing a moment of redemption?
What causes people to miss important moments in life—opportunities for growth, love, courage, or truth? Have you ever witnessed, experienced or been told about such a missed opportunity?
What redemption opportunities are calling to us now?
Where have we lost a sense of urgency? Where would you like to see a sense of urgency restored in Jewish life? In your personal life?
What is one thing you want to act on before the gates close this year?”

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

Healing

Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) Rivkin Family Swedish Summer Run

Join thousands of participants of all ages and fitness levels as we come together at Seattle’s breathtaking Seward Park to raise awareness and fund critical research for ovarian cancer. Whether you’re running, walking, or cheering from the sidelines, every step brings us closer to a cure. Funds raised through SummerRun support The Rivkin Pilot Grant. Join HNT’s own Dr. Saul Rivkin in this very important cause!

Connecting Jewishly

A Daily Dose of Talmud

Each day, subscribers to A Daily Dose of Talmud receive an email with an accessible, easy-to-understand insight from that day’s page of Talmud. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/daf-yomi/

Day Seven, Shabbat #1 (September 13)

Working on Yourself

Channel Mr. Rogers. Say to the world, your family, your friends and yourself, “I love you just the way you are.”

In the Ten Commandments it says: “Six days you shall labor and complete all your work; and the seventh day is a shabbat/a day of rest unto the Lord your God.” The Rabbis ask: “Is it really possible to finish all of our work in six days? There is always something left to do!”

The Rabbis answered: “On shabbat, we are supposed to imagine that we have literally completed all of our work!” In other words, radical as this may sound, we’re supposed to imagine on shabbat that the world and everything in it is completely perfect. There is nothing left to accomplish because there is no lack of anything.

Practically speaking what this means is that on shabbat, for this one day, we stop trying to improve the world. We stop trying to improve our friends and family as if there is nothing about them that annoys or displeases us. We even stop trying to fix ourselves. Instead, we imagine we have achieved all of our goals, and we are worthy of love exactly as we are now.

Of course, it would be naïve and egocentric to live this way seven days a week. But the fact is, we spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on the flaws of even those closest to us. Shabbat is a day to take a break from critical judgement and to appreciate and enjoy what we already love about the world and ourselves.

In Pirkei Avot, Ben Zoma said: “Who is wealthy? One who is satisfied with her portion (in Hebrew: ‘b’chelko). It is possible to translate ‘b’chelko’ as ‘with part of it.’ That is the happy person is one who has the ability to find joy in what isn’t yet entirely finished. Imagine if we could only find joy in our children when they are ‘finished.’ They are never finished!

When I lived in Worcester, MA, my Israeli neighbor Lenny was building a deck. One day, I looked out and saw Lenny and Ziva sunning themselves on the yet to be finished deck. Of course, they were Israeli. And, Israelis have developed a remarkable ability to find joy in their work in progress of a country. If they waited for example, for peace, before they allowed themselves to celebrate, they’d still be waiting!

Reflection and Action

Try this psychological trick on shabbat. Imagine your work is already finished—your career, your children, your marriage—celebrate it as if you have already reached the pinnacle of perfection. For an entire day, resist the temptation to judge, criticize or improve your friends, your family, your synagogue and most of all, yourself.
- Focus on the blessings you already have, not on the level you have not yet achieved. Think of the exhilaration you felt each year on the last day of school. At that moment, you weren’t thinking about the next grade you hadn’t yet completed. Dwell on that feeling.
- When shabbat is over, of course, you can go back to improving your work in progress!

Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam

Alyn Hospital (Israel)

ALYN Hospital is the only rehabilitation center for children and adolescents in Israel and one of the leading facilities in the world. ALYN Hospital specializes in diagnosing and rehabilitating children coping with a wide variety of congenital and acquired physical disabilities. Alyn.org

Shalva (Israel)

Shalva, the Israel Association for the Care and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities is dedicated to providing transformative care for individuals with disabilities, empowering their families, and promoting social inclusion.

Watch the film ‘Crip Camp’

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution tells the story of Camp Jened, a unique-for-its-time summer camp for people with disabilities of all kinds. Not only did Camp Jened, in Upstate New York, provide many campers with their first experience of a truly accessible space, it also became an accidental organizing site for the disability rights movement, since many of the movement’s leaders had become friends at Camp Jened. Most of the counselors and campers of the camp were Jewish. Available on Netflix.

Connecting Jewishly

Online Jewish learning: Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)

JTS podcasts:

The depth and breadth of JTS learning to-go from in-depth topics to our weekly parashah commentaries and the prophets, reimagined. Subscribe to JTS’s feeds wherever you find your podcasts, or you can stream and download the episodes directly from the website. jtsa.edu/torah/podcasts

JTS webinars: jtsa.edu/webinars

Since April of 2020, JTS has been offering online study sessions with our renowned faculty and other JTS-affiliated scholars. Lectures are generally offered as series organized around a central theme, about which scholars from virtually every sub-discipline within Jewish studies then share texts and insights. Examples of series: Dangerous Ideas: Censorship through a Jewish Lens; Faith, Forgiveness, and Prayer: Finding Meaning in the Days of Awe. Jtsa.edu/webinars