: United with Israel is looking forward to an amazing 2012! We expect to reach millions more Israel supporters! As each of us looks towards 2012 and thinks about our own personal New Year’s Resolutions, many of us hope to improve our health, some of us might want to make more money, while others will try to accomplish something extraordinary in the next twelve months. We must all recognize that “life without God is like a pencil without a tip – its got no point!”. We must constantly seek ways to come closer to our Creator, and New Year’s is an ideal time to make resolutions improving our spiritual life.
Our faith stresses the importance of striving to be more God-like. Judaism refers to it as, “Halakhta bidrakhav” (Walking in His ways) based on Leviticus (19:2) which commands us, “to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The Talmud asks a simple question: how can any mere mortal even attempt to strive for Godliness? Isn’t that a bit presumptuous?! Jewish tradition teaches that while its true that we can’t actually achieve Godliness, we must strive to emulate His many attributes described in the Torah. So, for example, Exodus (34:6) reports that Hashem is compassionate, loving, merciful and slow to anger. Accordingly, we must try to incorporate those traits into our own lives as well. There is one time, however, that the Bible goes beyond mentioning Divine attributes and specifies what the Almighty does each day, “from the beginning of the year until the end of the year”. Internalizing this lesson – about the Land of Israel – can direct us to a particularly meaningful 2012 New Year’s resolution.
With unusual precision, Deuteronomy (11:12) describes God checking in each day with the Land of Israel: “it is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” Certainly, Hashem is concerned with every little town and village throughout the world, but the Torah goes out of its way to describe God’s special love for the Land of Israel as a place He looks upon each and every day. As such, those of us who take the Bible seriously should make our New Year’s Resolutions to emulate God by seeking the welfare of Israel on a daily basis during 2012.
Israel365 is a new initiative built around Deuteronomy (11:12) connecting people to Israel 365 days a year. Each day, www.israel365.co.il will feature a stunning photograph of Israel alongside an inspiring Biblical verse that users can access via email or a free iPhone app. Users can check in with Israel each day in a meaningful and modern way!
So good luck losing those ten pounds and saving up for a nice vacation (hopefully to Israel) this year. I know that I will be doing my best to imitate God and walk in His ways by connecting with Israel each day of 2012, “from the beginning of the year to the end.”
Have a Happy and Healthy (secular) New Year!
Rabbi Tuly Weisz
Sign up for daily Israel inspiration via email or iPhone at www.israel365.co.il or search the iTunes App Store for “Israel365” to download the free iPhone app to connect with Israel each day of 2012, “from the beginning of the year to the end.”
Rabbi Tuly Weisz is an educator with United with Israel and the founder of “Teach for Israel”, promoting the beauty and Biblical significance of the Land of Israel. He can be reached at rabbituly@unitedwithisrael.org.
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