Self-reflection is a core Jewish value expressed in daily prayers, the annual holiday cycle, and life cycle events—a value tied intimately with responsibility to the other. When we look inward, we find heart and soul, the deepest components of self.

Our heart is our inner force—it pumps our blood, pulsing our life-force through our bodies; moreover it serves as the center of moral impulse. Soul is the spark of God within, a direct conduit feeding the self with Divine inspiration. Combined, heart and soul are the core of self—and when we look inward toward them we find what others see on the outside. When we look inward, we see our strengths and the work we can and are meant to do in the world.

Just as the individual has the inner pulses of physical and spiritual pulses—so too our Jewish communities, and on a larger scale the Jewish people, have cultural and religious centers that pulse with Jewish values and life.

It is incumbent on us as individuals to look inward in order to find out who we are and what we are to do; it is also incumbent on us in our communities and as a people in the world to look inward to find the work that we are to do.

But we must not look only inward. As Hillel taught, "Im ein ani li mi li, uhshe'ani le'atzmi ma ani, if I am not for myself who will be fore me, but if I am only for myself what am I?" We must look not only into our own heart and soul, but also look to find and honor the core, the heart and soul of others.

By looking to the core, by honoring our own soul and the soul of others, may we together make the world a better place, now and for the future.