Rosh Hashana 5786
How do people change?
Amongst the steps of Teshuvah (turning, repentance, repair) are the following elements:
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Awareness of what a person has done wrong
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Regret
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Acknowledgement/Confession
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Sincerely trying to repair one’s relationships with others, oneself, and God
Watch the following videos, which major companies created to restore public trust.
Additional Discussion Questions
Download these questions here as a one-page document to share at your
Rosh Hashanah meals.
Adapted from Michael Rosenak’s telling (based on Midrash Tanchuma) in Roads to the Palace.
Before a person is born, all of their characteristics are determined, except for the idea of whether they will be righteous or wicked.
Questions:
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To what extent do you think our fate is determined?
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Do you agree with this text's ultimate question: "Did you live a life which was righteous or wicked?"
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What do you think the ultimate question is?
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man (1903-1993)
The most fundamental principle of all is that man must create himself. It is this idea that Judaism introduced into the world… Repentance (Teshuvah), according to the halakhic view, is an act of creation—self-creation.
Questions:
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Do you believe that we create ourselves?
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In what ways is this teaching true or not true?
Shai Held, The Heart of Torah (born 1971)
For all its centrality in Jewish thought and spirituality, change is extremely—and sometimes excruciatingly—hard to achieve. The Israelites trek through the desert and end up… right where they started. Numbers reminds us that “one can take the people out of Egypt, but it proves [far] more difficult to take Egypt out of the people.”
Questions:
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What makes Teshuvah, or change, so difficult?
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In your experience, how much do you think people can really change?