Will the new year be new? Or just more of the same?

Rabbi Howard S. Herman DD

It’s a new secular year, 2025! “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? …” We all head into a new year with a multitude of expectations. Will the year show us promise or will the year bring about despair? Will the year be a year of health, or will the year be one of illness? Will the year give us pause to reflect on our blessings, or will the year be cursed and bring us down?

These are some of the inevitable questions we seek to answer as we stand on its precipice. The constant in all of this is “us.” How we see things, what kind of energy we have, what our mindset is, where our hopes are to lie. There are numerous things that are going to happen in this new year, over which we have very little and sometimes no control. But there are other events that will take place over which we can exert a good deal of effort to control. We may not have very much control or influence over what takes place in Washington D.C., but we are able to direct what happens here in Naples, Florida.

We just celebrated the eight nights of Hanukah. The first night of Hanukah this year was Christmas Eve. The word Hanukah literally means dedication. Hanukah celebrates the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees in the Second Century B.C.E., as well as the rededication of hearts to love and worship to God. This special holiday of dedication is a time to reaffirm Jewish ideals and rededicate ourselves to those noble principles. But what exactly do those principles look like? What are our values, that need to be rededicated?

The world is full of differences, and it is those differences that make us stronger.

Sadly, those values we so sorely need to redirect ourselves, are the prime values slowly being chipped away here in our country and around the world. Those values include justice and the pursuit of justice for all people.

One important value we share as Jews is “repairing the world.” The idea of working to make the world a better, healthier, cleaner and more ecologically sound environment for all people. Our emphasis on repairing the world speaks to something centrally Jewish: our belief in human responsibility.

Jewish worship isn’t just about contemplation or petition, it is about action. We don’t just sit around believing in God, or asking God for things and having faith that it will all work out for the best. We are empowered and expected to act.

We need to allow community to evolve and be committed to community and building welcoming spaces for people to connect. We put forth social responsibility to take care of our world including social issues like poverty, crime and the environment. We need to promote family, a place where values are taught and learned by example.

Another Jewish value is that of uniqueness where each person, a child of God, has a unique contribution to make to the global community.

Also, “doing good” is an important act, regardless of how it makes you feel.

Caring for the stranger is another important Jewish value. God repeatedly tells the Israelites to “care for the stranger, because you too were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

We need to be thoughtful about the words we speak. We see a great deal of Jewish commentary about speech — lying, gossip, shaming and more. A verse in Proverbs warns us “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” And the great sage Abraham Joshua Heschel taught us “The Holocaust didn’t begin with the building of crematoria, and Hitler did not come to power with tanks and guns; it all began with uttering evil words, with defamation, with language and propaganda.”

Judaism has taught us that we need to respect everyone for what they believe and for who they are. Being Jewish allows us to appreciate the world and its people. The world is full of differences, and it is those differences that make us stronger. These values motivate us to always do our very best to make a positive difference in the world.

In this new year 2025, the world, and especially our country, needs healing. It is never too soon to apply these values. It is a great way to begin that healing process.

Rabbi Howard S. Herman DD serves at Naples Jewish Congregation.