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Jacksonville Jewish News • January 2018
opinion and cartoons JJN’s Rabbinically Speaking: Celebrating the Secular New Year BY RABBI EPHRIAM WEISS Torah Academy of Jacksonville
Can Jews celebrate New Year’s? This was a question we toyed with as youngsters. It was part of the overall difficulty of trying to figure out how we, as Jews, were to interact with the prevalent American culture. Some American holidays were clearly off limits while others were seen as more ‘pareve’. New Year’s doesn’t seem to have any Christian connotation, it’s simply a celebration of finishing one calendar cycle and starting another. On the other hand, we as Jews have our own version of a New Year holiday and perhaps should be content with that. While it is not within the scope of this article to attempt to uncover the underlying philosophies behind New Years and analyze its Halachic acceptability, we will, however, point to one element of New Year’s that is not only permissible but actually commendable and that is the aspect of the New Year’s resolution. It has become commonplace for people from all walks of life to reflect on their lives as they get set for the new calendar year and make new resolutions to take upon themselves ways of improving for the coming year. It’s quite common to hear people saying that this year they’re going to exercise more, lose weight, spend more time with their families, do something good for the environment or chase after some dream. This clearly stems from feeling a certain inadequacy in their lives and an attempt to make changes
for the coming year in hopes that this year things will be different. In fact you can often see the difference in health clubs around the country as Jan. 1 arrives, all of a sudden there are more people around and the wait is longer for the elliptical. Meanwhile, elsewhere we find diet products sold out on Amazon or on the shelves in the store. Clearly the idea of the New Year’s resolution has become commonplace in American society. In actuality, the concept of analyzing one’s past and taking on ways to improve is a very Jewish concept. In fact, our great sages were known to engage in this and quite frequently, not only on New Year’s but all year. This in fact is the premise of the whole idea of teshuvah, repentance, in which one, after reflecting upon his ways and finding flaws, takes upon himself a whole new plan of action, sometimes involving major changes in lifestyle and compro-
RABBINICALLY SPEAKING mising his comfort zone. According to classic works on Jewish ethics all Jews are supposed to involve themselves with this task. In fact one who does not participate in this form of analysis and resolution on a constant basis is lacking one of the most basic tenets as a Jew, the responsibility to strive for self-perfection. According to the Arizal a 16th century mystic, one who does not strive to fix his evil traits and aim for self-perfection has missed his most basic responsibility in life. So basically taking on resolutions to improve is something we should be doing all the time. If New Year’s provides us with the motivation to do so then why not? The question for us, however is how come these resolutions’ are
typically short-lived? How come the health clubs are only full for a month or two before most people go back to their old habits? How come many of us find that we’re making the same resolutions year after year and still haven’t seen any change from our previous resolutions? If our great sages actively engage in these forms of self-analysis and self-improvement then they must have the solution for finding actual long-term change and not just temporary, short-lived promises. One idea that I’ve heard from multiple sources including the great Rav Shach, of blessed memory, is that resolutions requiring major changes are usually ineffective. In order to see real change, a person should never take upon himself something too big, but rather something small and easy; something that he knows he can do and stick to. For example, if someone wants to become a great Torah scholar it would be futile to take upon himself to study many hours every day if he is not accustomed to studying at all. Even if he can accomplish this for a day or two, he will lose his steam quickly and return to his old ways. Rather he should take upon himself a realistic amount that he knows he can do 15 minutes a day or even
30 minutes per week. If he resolves to do something that he knows he can do, even if it’s small he will be set in motion in the direction toward improvement, soon he will find that he can add time and improve more and more until he reaches his goal. So, in a practical example, it is pretty unrealistic that one would be able to stick to spending two hours at the gym every day, but going once or twice a week for half an hour may be very doable. Once a person gets in the habit of doing this, he can then reevaluate if he’s ready to up his game. This principle can be applied to all areas of self improvement. May we all see true self-improvement this coming year and continue on the path of self perfection throughout our lives. Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year. Rabbi Weiss has studied in some of the most prestigious institutions in the U.S. and Israel and currently teaches Judaic studies at the Torah Academy. He will begin a miniseries for the general community in Practical Halacha (Jewish Law) on Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 24, at Etz Chaim. He moved to Jacksonville a year and a half ago with his wife Kineret, who heads the new Jacksonville Torah High School, and their six lovely children. If you are a Rabbi, hazzan or religious leader in NE Florida and would like to contribute your inspirational thoughts for a monthly column, please e-mail jjn@jewishjacksonville.org
President’s message regarding Federation and Foundation’s merger
Federation President Ken Jacobs
On Dec. 14 and 18, the boards of directors of the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville and Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida each held meetings and unanimously approved the merger of the two organizations. With this approval, as of Dec. 31, our Jewish Federation will be responsible for the planned giving in our Jewish community. We wish to express our appreciation to all who have served the Jewish Foundation these past 20 years. We are also grateful and appreciative of the cooperation and leadership of current Jewish Foundation president, Sue Nussbaum, throughout
the 12 months leading up to this merger. We believe that Federation is well positioned to engage with the members of the community in conversations regarding planned giving. It is our intent to establish an ongoing campaign for excellence in Jewish life, to insure the future of our community. Over the coming months, we are going to: -Conduct a search for and hire a planned giving director. -Immediately reduce the fees paid by the agencies and synagogues, the Jewish Foundation’s historical partners. -Communicate with all of those who currently have donor advised funds and permanent endowment funds, to insure that all agreements are written to satisfy the intent of the donors. -Establish a new Planned Giving Development Committee to
work with our new director and our current staff with the goal of assisting us to engage with more families regarding planned giving. -Establish an Investment Committee, inviting current members of the Jewish Foundation’s Investment Committee to serve. Beginning the first week in January, we will be prepared to handle all requests made by those who have current donor advised funds, work with donors who wish to establish donor advised funds and to begin conversations regarding new planned giving funds. We have asked Jean Brantley, of the Jewish Foundation, to join our staff during our search for a director of planned giving. Should you have any questions, please call Jean or our CFO, Pat Burke, or executive director, Alan Margolies. This is an exciting time for our Federation. We look forward to working with you as we continue
Dry Bones Cartoons by Yaakov Kirschen
to build our Jewish community and ensure excellence for future generations.
Sincerely,
Happy New Year! Ken Jacobs, President
Advertising Representatives Barbara Nykerk • 904.733.4179 • 904.923-3205 Eta Perras • 904.629.0466 Editor & Communications Director Matt Franzblau • mattf@jewishjacksonville.org Communications Committee Jon Israel, Chair Shirley Bielski Helen Hill Michele Katz Joan Levin Andrea Mail Rachel Morgenthal Andrew Ocean Marsha Pollock Federation President Ken Jacobs Federation Executive Director Alan Margolies 8505 San Jose Blvd. • Jacksonville, FL 32217 The Jacksonville Jewish News is published monthly. All submitted content becomes the property of the Jacksonville Jewish News. Announcements and opinions contained in these pages are published as a service to the community and do not necessarily represent the views of the Jacksonville Jewish News or its publisher, the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jewish News is not responsible for the Kashruth of any product advertised. Copy due dates: All news, photographs, etc., must be received by the 7th of each month, and sent to jjn@jewishjacksonville.org. Ad deadlines: All ads must be received by the 15th of each month and sent to jjn@jewishjacksonville.org in .pdf format. Editorial support: Natalie McElwee, Donna O’Steen, Erin Cohen, Val Battini, Emma Pulley, Andrew Ocean