By RABBI LAWRENCE S. ZIERLER
We are all aware of New Year's resolutions and their dismal success rate. Too often the needed work to change eludes our grasp and we are nowhere near the desired change in behavior and temperament.
The problem may lie in the lack of concrete action steps. Multi-point plans can be difficult to realize. I liken this dilemma to complex exercise programs. If there are too many steps in the set-up of an exercise routine many will avoid or give up such a workout.
Similarly, effecting change in our lives will often fail when the challenge before us cannot be broken down to a few easy steps, and instead hits us as an amorphous mess of mistakes and bad habits.
This is certainly a challenge for our Jewish community at this time of year when we usher in our New Year; a time when we endeavor to return to our essential plan and principles for a more just and caring community.
The mass return to synagogues for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, culminating in the 25-hour fast that is Yom Kippur, speaks to a desire in earnest to change personal course. But the hard work rests not only in the prayers shared in our synagogues and can be found in a celebrated four-point plan.
Consider then the rulings of the Rambam, also known as Maimonides, a giant of a mind who was a medieval philosopher, physician and legal scholar. In his unique codification of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, the first of its kind in the Jewish legal tradition, in the section containing the Laws of Return, he presents four steps or stages to influence and guide personal change.
I have always felt that methods of engagement in the process of improvement of ourselves and society should be distilled into a portable set of no more than a few moves that we can more easily absorb into our very being. Enter Maimonides, who presents such a program for positive change. Indeed, he speaks of four steps in the road to return and renewal.
First one must leave and rid one's self of the deleterious behavior, referred to in Hebrew as "azivat ha-chet."
This is followed by a sense of genuine regret for the past misdeeds, or what he calls " charatah al he-avar."
Then there is the need to consciously accept upon one's self a new path and program that divorces one from that mistaken past; what he calls "kabbalah al he-atid."
And the final step is a conscious confession of the errant behavior, known in Hebrew as "vidui."
These are not easy steps to take, but in the aggregate they give us a marked manner for self improvement: four portable tools that one can commit to memory and seriously consider acting upon.
And while the Rambam may have written his code and this action plan in particular for his coreligionists, this program for change need not rest only with the Jewish community but can be shared with all people of good faith, in our shared desire to improve and correct our collective negative actions, so as to hopefully improve on what ails society and threatens the commonweal.
Truth be told, Rosh Hashanah is not only the Jewish New Year but also the birthday of the world, the anniversary of creation.
It carries with it universal themes, concerns and considerations, that we can all share and endeavor to implement and incorporate in our individual being and communal structures.
So thank you, Maimonides, for these tools for change and Shanah Tovah, Happy New Year to all of God's children. May we see positive change in ourselves and much healing for our fractured and wounded world.
Rabbi Lawrence S. Zierler lives in South Fallsburg. He served in the active pulpit for 30 years along with being a chaplain, Jewish educator and organizational executive. He is the founder and lead professional of Sayva Associates, an elder care solutions practice.
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