Rosh Hashanah: Don’t Just Start a New Year—Create One - Rabbi Rafi Brodie

Have you ever [music] thought of this question? If you were born in the image of God, if you are godly, how are you godly? What makes you godly? Listen to this. God was the creator. He created us on Rosh Hashanah, on the new year [music] coming up. If you're like God, what are you thinking about on Rosh Hashanah? How are you being a creator? There are two types of people in the world. There's a couch potato, he's dead. He's just doing nothing. He's letting his life while [music] away. And then there's the creative people. But there's two types of creative people. There's one creative [music] person who's running after every new craze, every new fad. And there's [music] those people who are creating in a deep meaning way. Listen to this. In the prayer [music] we say the following words. Al tashlicheini le'et [music] ziknah. Don't throw me away into old age. >> [music] >> You know, they say middle age is 52, but I don't know that many people over 104. But how can two people be standing in shul, [music] a 13-year-old and a 85-year-old, and they're both saying, "Don't cast me away into old [music] age?" We have to understand that old age doesn't matter how many years, how many birthdays you've had. Old age is a mindset. There are 13-year-olds who are playing Clash of Clans and Candy Crush all day, they're dead, they're old, [music] they don't have any innovative spirit. And there are those people, [music] they can be old, they can may years old, and they still want to have a full day's work. They're in the alive group. But, which alive group? The alive group who are going for new crazes, new fad, vacations, new car, what can I do with my smartphone today that I couldn't do yesterday? Or are they taking their [music] lives and they're creating new levels of awareness, new levels in their conduct, new levels in their >> [music] >> attributes of midot tovot, character traits. If yesterday I was [music] an angry man, can I create a new level? Can I go from a three to a four, from a four to a five in my patience? [music] Can I come closer to God today? Can I do a kindness today [music] that I didn't do yesterday? Think about this this Rosh Hashanah. This is what is going to make you godly, and this is what's [music] going to make you have a happy, new, and productive year.