The Year of Personal Activism

Happy Rosh Hashana! The past two days we "celebrated" the holiday of Rosh Hashana. We blew the shofar to ring in the new year, dipped apples and honey for a year's sweetness, and shared nice meals with families and friends. Some of us went as far as to make the trek to synagogue yesterday and today. Praying, eating, and listening to the shofar all appropriately celebrate the holiday, sure. Observing the holiday, according to the Torah, is to be a "holy convocation"(Lev. 16:24). The observation of this holiday extends beyond the meals and the blasts, for the shofar represents much more than the "Jewish ball drop". The final long roar of the instrument, the tekiah g'dolah, signifies a new time in our lives, a kima nefesh (soul awakening). The time from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur, the ten holiest days of the year, constiute a period of self-reflection, self-actualization, and a personal movement forward. Each moment during this time holds a sacred value for the year ahead. We talk so often about "finding ourselves" in the modern day, but Judaism sets aside time each year to perform such a daunting task! Ten whole days exist on the Jewish calendar to emerge from Yom Kippur a more determined, ready-to-be-fulfilled human being. Annually after Rosh Hashana, we continue with our lives as normal until Kol Nidre arrives, complain a little about our hunger on Yom Kippur, and check our school agenda or work schedules for the next point on the agenda. The High Holy Days start the Jewish new year, and the year occurs constantly, not just until the next Rosh Hashana, where the cycle restarts. This year is the end of the Jewish paradigm. Yes, we will continue enjoying the melodies, the treats, and the companionship, but this year is different. 5774 stands as a year for the centuries, for a I declare this year as the year for personal activism.    

Alright, the decree was made; we possess ten days to perform rigorous introspection. Go! Activism means the recognition of a belief and the corresponding action to integrate that belief into reality. Personal activism requires the same process. Before we even go into the world a new person, we need to sit in a chair, in the grass, or on the subway. Regardless of location, the first step of proper introspection is writing. While the spoken word stands as a powerful medium for persuasion or conversation, printing ideas creates permanence. Recording goals and thoughts generates proof of their existence, for as memories fade, descriptions remain in the passionate moment of their writing. My challenge to each reader of this blog who wants to explore the year of personal activism is to write every day until Yom Kippur closes. I keep a journal, which I try to write in every once in a while, but on these holiest of holy days, I specifically schedule time to express myself using pen and paper. In the next week, the personal activist should explore and write about the following:

Saturday: What was my personal journey in the last year?
Sunday: Where was I ten years ago? Where am I now? Where will I be ten years from now?
Monday: What are my values? Do I live accordingly to what I believe?
Tuesday: What do I require in friendship? Are my friends an accurate representation of that description? Am I an accurate representation of that description to others?
Wednesday: What do I like about life? What do I want to like about life that is not present in my own?
Thursday: What were the best moments in the last year? Where was I most a fulfilled human being?
Friday: Where have I gone wrong in the last year? How can I nullify these injustices?
Saturday: What are my goals for the next year? When I read these entries in 5775, what do I want to change?

Those prompts lead into Yom Kippur worship. Each day is a stepping stone to fulfillment. These questions appear, at first, lengthy, but the depth depends on the individual. The effort counts more than the number of sentences each day. When satisfied with what is written, one needs to relax the hand, set aside the paper, and onwardly progress.  In traditional Judaism, Yom Kippur represents a solemn day of judgement from God, in which the gates of heaven open for only a moment. The planned introspection above provides a modern context for self-criticism, perhaps a more meaningful form of judgement than the tradition provides nowadays. Yom Kippur pertains to atonement, but in the year of personal activism, it includes goal-setting. This year, Yom Kippur falls on a Saturday. Take advantage of the Sunday afterward. Before resuming the normal activities of the week, I recommend that each of us writers (and I hope there are many of us) takes time on Sunday to devise a meticulous plan to achieve Saturday's recorded goals. In this way, we truly inscribe ourselves in the book of life, our lives.

Now, that ten day process allows for opportunity, but the beauty we describe about our lives, hopes, and dreams is really nonsense. Perhaps, somebody reading this rolled their eyes way back in paragraph one. Sure, introspection happens in January when all those people go to the gym for a month too. The personal activist is disciplined and resilient. With proper planning, the "Yom Kippur Goals" will revolutionize living. Think not of this task as a silly new year's resolution. Rather, the self-exploration that occurs  between now and Yom Kippur establishes a standard for the rest of the year. Strategy and proactivity are the way of the personal activist. Originally, I wanted to deem 5774, the year of the activist. Then, I thought about us going into the world. At Habitat for Humanity, how vigorously can the unfulfilled laborer hammer homes for the needy? Without spirit, how do we serve food for the poor? Certainly, 5774 is not the year of social apathy. We will indulge ourselves this year, take some "us time", but as the doses of self-satisfaction suffuse our souls, as we take part in "kima nefesh", we need to carry that spirit into the unfulfilled world full of the Jewish paradigm and social injustice. Plenty of people will not read this entry, and plenty of readers will not follow my recommendation. Heck, I could be the only one, but we, the personal activists will really taste the sweet new year from the honey and apples, hear the shofar, and awaken ourselves with its call.