This time of year has people talking about resolutions. One of my favorite (cynical) quotes about resolutions is this one from F. M. Knowles, “He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool.” Or as a friend of mine announced on Facebook that he is opening a new business; for the first two weeks of the year it’s a gym and for the other 50 it’s a bar.
We have a tendency, in a moment of inspiration, to resolve to radically change our lives. And we all know how well that works...
The Talmud relates the story of Elozor ben Durdaya, who had the dubious distinction of having transgressed every prohibition in the Torah. It was said about him that for him to return to G-d was as distant as from east to west. In the end, the Talmud relates, he regretted his ways and died a repentant soul, earning his place in the world to come.
How was he able to bridge the seemingly insurmountable distance to his return, “as distant as from east to west”?
By turning around and beginning to head in the other direction.
For him to return did not mean that he had to become a perfect person overnight. It meant that he had to disavow his current lifestyle choices and begin to head in the right direction. And although he was still in the same place, because he had turned and begun heading in the new direction, his life was now deserving of a place in the world to come.
So when resolving to be better, in whichever area, it doesn’t mean radically changing your lifestyle. It means changing the direction in which you are heading. It doesn’t mean beginning every day with an hour long workout; it does mean paying more attention to leading a healthy lifestyle and incorporating healthy habits into your life. It doesn’t mean keeping the entire Shabbat fully this week; it does mean lighting Shabbat candles weekly, making kiddush weekly or coming to shul regularly. It doesn’t mean keeping kosher overnight, it does mean beginning to pay attention to what is and what isn’t kosher, learning how to keep a kosher kitchen and beginning to implement small changes in your eating habits.
We may not succeed in radically changing our lives, and can therefore be described as a fool for making a resolution. But we can succeed in incorporating small changes into our lives.
And before you know it – your life will be radically different!