Reflections on Reflections: And a Happy New Year

Published on September 28, 2011 by Jordyn

It amazes me how a few days- no matter how they are observed- can provide so much fodder for taking stock in oneself. The holidays provide a thankful reminder to take a breath, pause, and reexamine. Unlike the secular New Year which prompts us to pop champagne and celebrate in ways that often lead to forgetting, the Jewish New Year is a time to contemplate and celebrate by being present and self-aware.

ReachOut! is now approaching our fourth cycle of volunteering. During these past two years, we've had the honor of working with and engaging 160 different young professionals in volunteer work across Boston. Each participant has made a commitment to service, to being part of a community and to finding a way to engage Jewishly. Each participant has also made a commitment to reflection.

ReachOut! volunteers find time to reflect on their service during the cycle, and to ask themselves and their fellow participants to explore their inspirations and motivations. As a community, the ReachOut! world gives back-- both to those they serve at volunteer sites, and, through their discussions and contemplations, to themselves.

It is with this reflection in mind that I wish you a happy New Year, and a hope that you find the time to observe, absorb and look forward.

Jordyn Rozensky is the Social Justice Coordinator for Young Adults at the JCRC. She organizes the ReachOut! volunteer program for Jewish young professionals. She received her MPP and Masters in Jewish Leadership from Brandeis University, as well as a BA in Religion and Biblical Literature from Smith College. In her spare time she is an amateur TV critic, addicted to blogs about photography and continues to claim she is almost done writing a romance novel.