Temple Ner Tamid of the North Shore

of the North Shore

368 Lowell Street Peabody, MA 01960

(978) 532-1293

office@templenertamid.org

About Us | Rabbi’s Message

Change Your Life in 50 Days?!

I recently got ahold of a book I remembered reading as a young teen called Seven Days to a Brand New Me (Ellen Conford, Scholastic, 1982). In it, our plain yet imaginative 13 year old heroine Maddie, longs to be as fiery as the raven-haired, bodice-clad women in her cheesy romance novels; or more realistically, to capture the attention of Adam, the 8th grade boy at the locker next to hers. She happens upon a book promising a ‘Brand New You’ in just 7 days of diligent personality and wardrobe makeovers.

This morning I read an article in the New York Times by Jonathan Alpert (a psychotherapist) criticizing fruitless long-term psychotherapy. He’s written a book called Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days. Not having read Dr. Alpert’s book, I can’t tell you how successful his life-changing 28-day plan is. But I can tell you that Maddie did manage to get Adam’s attention - it turns out he already liked her, he was just shy.

The point is, we are always looking to make changes in our lives – be they physical, emotional, or spiritual – and we would like them to happen now; or in 7 days, or in 28 days.

How about 50 days?

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering — the day after the Sabbath — you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week — fifty days (Leviticus 23:15-16)

From this verse in the Torah we derive the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha-omer - the obligation to count every day between Passover and Shavuot. What is supposed to happen during these days? What are we meant to achieve by the end of this 7-week period? The easy answer is that on Shavuot we receive the Torah – the Covenant of God with the Jewish people. “50 Days to a Brand New Covenant!”

The hard answer is – I don’t know. What do you think you can do in 50 days? What goals could you set for yourself? What intentions could you fulfill? Would you impress yourself with your achievements or disappoint yourself with your failure? Only you can know that.

Whether or not you think Sefirat Ha-omer sets us up for success or for failure, it reminds us that days are ticking by, every week, every month, every year. And we won’t have an infinite number of chances. So whether you think it will take you 7 days, 28 days, 50 days, or 7x28x50 days – every day counts. Maybe it is time to be fearless.

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Deborah Zuker - tnt

RABBI DEBORAH ZUKER