A Small Activity That WILL Improve Your Life

Marathon season is upon us. The Boston Marathon is less than three weeks away with other marathons soon to come. There is something that non-runners can not necessarily relate to about following a training plan from beginning to end. With that in mind, I’d like to make a small suggestion.

Pesach is, as I mentioned last week, the “time of our freedom”. It is easy to think that once Pesach passes, we are free with nothing more to work towards. Truth is, true freedom is not that easy. As much as we aspire to break away from our old ways of thinking, from the various ideologies, ways of life and people who can enslave us, it is easy to fall back into old habits. Witness the behavior of the Jews in the desert who frequently expressed a desire to go back to Egypt as soon as things got tough. G-d, recognizing that being free in body, is not the same as free of spirit and mind, follows up Pesach with the holiday of Shavuot, seven weeks later. Shavuot, the holiday that marks our acceptance of G-d’s law, is the time when we get a way of life to enhance our freedom. As such, each night (or day, if we forget at night) we count towards the holiday of Shavuot. Tonight will be fourth night. Once we reach the seventh day, we count off days and weeks.
I’d like to humbly suggest that no matter what your level of observance, that you commit to counting each night for next 6 ½ weeks. I am confident that you will find the nightly reminder of freedom of spirit and mind to be a refreshing and helpful one. To be sure, for those who are in college, you might yourselves counting in interesting places, but the nightly count will serve as a reminder of who you truly are. Should you wish for a daily reminder of the day, please let me know. I will gladly send you one.

I know I am few days late, but that is the cost of inspiration coming when running. It is not too late to start.