According to US News, 80% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the second week of February. According to OnePoll it takes the average person 32 days or less to break their resolution. Spoiler alert: This custom of “New Year’s resolutions” to lose weight, exercise more, save money, or eat better is highly likely to fail. You are not at fault. The truth is, keeping our resolutions, changing our behavior, creating new habits is really hard. We need support, progress trackers, realistic goals, and constant reminders. Read more...

Jews learn early in life that their Jewish heritage includes a strong focus on helping others.  The Torah has multiple laws that require us to take care of the poor (e.g., Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 15:7-15), and the Rabbis expanded on that to require that every Jewish community establish a soup kitchen to feed the poor and a charity fund to supply them with clothing and shelter (Tosefta, Pe’ah 4;9).  Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, depicts God as caring for the widow, orphan, and stranger (10:18), and it bids us in several places to do so likewise (14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; Read more...