By Dan Afriat
Self reflection is incredibly powerful.
As we began our first week of the Nachshon Project, jet-lagged and overwhelmed by so many new faces, we took some time to look inward and forward. The question Rabbi Zeff presented to us seemed simple: “How will I create a love of Jewish life for other people?”. This one question prompted a whirlwind of thoughts in my head and I struggled to put them down on paper in that moment. I found myself thinking about what I wanted my own Judaism to be before I could start to think about how I would share that love with others. During our reflective writing time I ran down the path of career aspirations and began to question what I want the rest of my life to look like. An overwhelming cloud was creeping up on me and then I stopped myself and wrote down something helpful: START WITH ME.
Before I could figure out how I wanted to create a love of Jewish life for others, I had to reflect on what I loved about Judaism. I found it very easy to write down the emotions that I felt when I thought about Judaism but had trouble getting more specific. This exercise really pushed me to think more about the specific things I like about Judaism. I found my ability to articulate what was so amazing about Jewish life surprisingly inadequate. This was incredibly frustrating but, at the same time, it allowed me to shift my mindset to one of self exploration and intentionality. This seemingly simple exercise forced me to rethink each individual piece of what I thought my future was going to look like. I described this as everything I knew being put into a box and getting a good shake.
Ultimately, this activity gave me a dose of healthy anxiety and catalyzed my process of self reflection. It put me into a headspace of learning and growing which was incredibly valuable so early on in this program.
