And With That, I Bid 2015 Adieu!

[Week 47]

• Learning to Keep Your Envy in Check: I don't remember...
• Don't Get Used to Other People's Suffering: How can we get used to humans, or even animals, being treated poorly? We should always feel uncomfortable when we hear of the suffering of any living thing.
• What's Wrong with Your Life? What's Right?: While it's easy to complain about everything going wrong, don't forget about everything that's going well!
• Shiva, the Final Act of Gratitude: Don't discount it. Shiva is an act of gratitude and respect and should be treated and continued on as such.
• Repentance Is Good--Overrepentance Is Not: It's good to be apologetic when you have something to apologize for. But when you've already apologized and been forgiven, why continue to breach the subject? I should really be taking my granny's advice and only apologize when I have something to apologize for.
• Don't Stereotype Groups: Incredibly self-explanatory.

[Week 48]

• Raising Your Children to Love Both Themselves and Others: How can I not remember this one? This seems like something that is so totallly up my alley. All right, another section to reread.
• Watch Your...Compliments: I don't remember necessarily what this section was about but I do remember seeing somewhere recently that compliments should be deeper and more meaningful than just an "I like your shirt."
• When Legal Doesn't Equal Moral: I hope we're all aware that in a lot of cases, the law isn't moral and that we should use our hearts as well as our heads to solve problems.
• Using Your Evil Urge to Do Good: We all have persuasions to do bad things. What we should be doing is channeling those urges into doing good. It's simply a matter of refocusing your energy.
• Let Your Word, Not Your Oath, Be Your Bond: You should be so trustworthy that people believe what you say without you having to "swear you're telling the truth."
• Never Insult Another: Self-explanatory.

[Week 49]

• When Is It Permitted to Pass On Negative Information About Another?: Is it really necessary?
• Passing On Negative Information When a Couple Are Dating: The Four Guidelines of the Chaffetz Chayyim: I don't remember the guidelines, but I do remember that if it is important for the person to know, it's okay. Especially if it's something that might change the dynamic of the relationship.
• Telling Your Children "I'm Sorry": It's important for parents to show their children that apologizing is for everyone, even if it's hard to do or say. This is especially true when parents owe their children an apology, a humbling experience.
• Make Time for Your Children: Self-explanatory, I agree.
• "You Must Not Remain Indifferent": I don't remember.
• When You Learn Torah, Use It: Also self-explanatory. What good is knowledge if you don't apply it to your life?

[Week 50]

• One Who Calls Another Person by a Cruel Nickname: What gives them the right? Being called by a nickname is an experience that sticks with a person for a long time. That's why I went from being "Hannah Banana" to being "Hannah Only" at only 3 years of age...
• When Anonymous Giving Is Not Good: To save the other person the embarrassment of having their situation somewhat publicly known.
• Do You Owe Your Children an Inheritance?: I don't remember...
• "One Who Is Bashful Will Never Learn": It's good to ask questions. Always. The only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked.
• Study Judaism Fifteen Minutes a Day...Starting Now: Reason #1 why I loved this resolution. It was fulfilling. I hope to continue learning about Judaism every day in the future through different projects!
• Random Acts of Kindness: I'm a big fan.

[Week 51]

• A Particularly Evil Form of Stealing: I remember reading this section but I don't remember the resolution...
• A Husband's Obligations to His Wife: Clothing, housing, and marital relations.
• Don't Insult Your Spouse: In Judaism, we care about the emotions of everything (from our fellows to our challah), so naturally, we should be caring for the feelings of our spouses.
• Jews Shouldn't Be Cheap; Jewish Funerals Should Be: From dust we are and to dust we shall return. We are earthly beings while our bodies will decompose, our souls are eternal. Therefore, our bodies don't need extravagant homes in the world-to-come.
• The Holiness of Laughter: A single laugh can change a day or even a life. We should never doubt the power or the holiness of laughter when laughter preserves lives.

[Week 52]

• Unfair Competition: I don't remember...
• Would Jewish Ethics Permit a Jew to Own a Gun Store?: Only if the store owner knew for sure that none of his guns would be used for violence or wrongdoings.
• Wronging with Words: I don't remember...
• The Telephone as an Instrument for Good: We should use telephones to keep in touch, to check in on the elderly or sick loved ones, etc. rather than just exchanging gossip.
• Torah Study and the Importance of Review: We just learned that we should be using what we learn, but what if we forget? That's why we review!
• A Week of Kindness, a Week of Gemilut Chesed: Keep the acts of kindness going for a whole week. I started today by giving a homeless man a bag of pretzels.

SHABBAT SHALOM!