The Year Ahead: A Path of Purpose (Eikev 5779)

The rhythm of transitioning from school days to summer days and back again to school days calls to mind one of my school teachers. On the last day of school in June, my teacher told us the best plan for summer “is to do nothing.” That seemed pretty cool, I thought to myself. No early wake-up! No homework! No schedules! No more chores! No more responsibilities! Do nothing!

My dreams of “doing nothing” were shattered when a classmate asked if the teacher literally meant “do nothing!” “Not exactly,” they explained, “I mean find a purpose outside of school. Try something new. Don’t be afraid to fail. Practice kindness without being blocked by peer pressure. Take responsibility for your boredom. That’s the purpose of summer!”

Last week the whole JCHS professional community (all educators and staff) worked on campus to prepare for the coming school year. We were working alongside JCHS athletes and theater students who were on campus preparing too. The professional community discussed our summer reading, which included for many of us William Damon’s The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life.” 

Damon’s research shows that pursuing a purpose is both a powerful engine of individual vitality and a nuanced reflection of individual vulnerability. For
example, he encourages us to cultivate a blend of idealism or optimism tempered by realism, ambition tempered humility. Damon argues these are not goals for exceptional children, these should be goals to nurture in every child. 

These seem to echo a lesson from this week’s Torah portion, Eikev. In it Moses seems to declare the purpose of each person who is part of the Jewish community, “to have awe for the divine, to walk on the divine path, and to love and serve the divine with heart and soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12). As unpacked by Rabbi David Jaffe, this means (1) Align our behaviors with our highest values learning from divine examples of kindness and justice; (2) Grow in love for ourselves and others; (3) Live with integrity and serve others. A compact statement of purpose. 

As the school year starts, what’s your purpose. It is complicated, not always easy to express our purpose. We worry what others might think. We have anxiety that our purpose is not grand enough or not practical enough. Perhaps guidance from Damon is helpful. He calls out the complexity of revealing our purpose: “purpose is both a deeply individual and an unavoidably social phenomenon. It is internally constructed, yet it manifests itself in engagement with others. It is a product of inner examination and yet also of outer exploration.”

Whether inspired by Damon or by this week’s Torah portion, may each of us in the year ahead have the wisdom this school year to live with purpose. Not “do nothing.” But do everything!. Everything we can to pursue our purpose with high values, love for ourselves, integrity and service to others.