New Year’s resolutions

RABBI BONNIE KOPPELL

id you make any New Year’s resolutions? Many people do, despite the high failure rate of fulfilling those resolutions. The holiest moment in the Jewish calendar, Kol Nidre, is that moment on Yom Kippur when the cantor chants the words that release us from any vows — any neder in Hebrew — Kol Nidrei.

Nidrana la nidrei, v’esarana la esarai, our vows are not vows, the obligations we took upon ourselves are erased. Our pledges, our promises, all of them, are gone with the wind.

The Torah tells us that when a person makes a vow or takes on an obligation,

Dit is a mitzvah to fulfill the words that come out of our mouths. (Numbers 30:3) Deuteronomy puts it more bluntly.

“Whatever your lips say, take care to do actively discourages us from making promises, knowing that human nature is such that, with all good intentions and all too often, we make commitments and love of New Year’s resolutions? it.” (Deuteronomy 23:24) Yet, just prior to that, we are warned that the way not to sin is not to make a vow altogether. It’s complicated, and there is an entire then don’t follow through — for a whole host of reasons! Some have the custom of saying blee neder, that is, “without a vow,” when they make a commitment. As in, I’ll

Do we dare make commitments for the year ahead? What might they be and how will we bring them from visions and goals to reality in our lives? Fundamentally, I think we should try to make the best possible decisions daily and forgive ourselves, stand up and brush ourselves off when we fall short — and try again tomorrow.

If you can’t give up on the idea of making a New Year’s resolution, consider the four worlds in Kabbalah. Jewish mysticism suggests that we all vibrate on four levels simultaneously — the physical, the emotional, the intellectual and the spiritual. What if we looked at how we want to adjust our course in each of