I follow the Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC), and read the updates they release after their meeting. As many of you know, the Fed has the challenge of balancing two demands, low inflation and high
employment, using the Fed Funds Interest Rate as its primary tool. Focusing too much on one demand can often come at the detriment of the other.

 

Judaism struggles with a somewhat similar tension: Intention (kavanah) vs. obligation (mitzvah). There is a plethora of texts, including in the Mishna and Talmud, that debate it. The one area that is still most relevant to our lives is prayer. A famous saying of the 11th century philosopher Bahya Ibn Pakudah is often quoted in this regard: “Prayer without kavanah is like a body without a soul.” But with so much prayer becoming traditional components of the three daily mandated services (Shachrit, Mincha, and Ma’ariv), it’s difficult to find a space that doesn’t feel overwhelming. I don’t have the answer, but I know the struggle is real.

 

As we’re preparing, or implementing, New Year’s Resolutions, I keep this struggle at the forefront of my mind. It is a factor not only in the Jewish endeavors of life, but potentially everything. (Can you have a successful diet that doesn’t allow for little ‘cheats’?) I hope that for each of us, that we take advantage of the calendar’s suggestive opportunity to better ourselves (if you don’t like New Year’s Resolutions,
consider thinking of it as ways we can keep the light of Hanukkah glowing), and that we look for a space of balance that will allow us to both accomplish and enjoy.