10 Jan ROAR LIKE A LION!

One December, Rav
Yaakov Kamenetsky
zt”l, asked his
students what their
New Year’s
Resolutions were.
The students were
shocked: “Rebbe, this isn’t the Jewish
new year!” He responded, “The entire

country is using this as a time for self-
reflection and self-improvement, and

we won’t?!”
We are almost 2 full weeks into our
New Year’s resolutions for 2023. How
are yours going so far? What did you
resolve to change? If you decided this
is your year to lose weight and get
healthy, you are not alone. In fact,
according to a recent survey, these are
this year’s most popular resolutions
(participants could elect more than
one):
1. “Exercise more” – 52%
2. “Eat healthier” – 50%
3. “Lose weight” – 40%
4. “Save more money” – 39%
5. “Spend more time with family/
friends” – 37%

Do you know who the biggest
beneficiaries are of new year’s
resolutions? Not the people who
responded to the survey, or the tens of
millions of people who took on new
resolutions. It is fitness retailers and
gyms who see an enormous spike in
sales and membership come the first
week of January. Statistics show that by
the beginning of February, almost 80%
of the gym’s new members have stopped
coming.
This attrition is hardly limited to
weight loss or exercise resolutions.
While 45% of Americans make New
Year’s resolutions, only 8% are
successful at keeping them and meeting
their goals. What is the difference
between the 8% who succeed and the

92% who fail? Is it conditions around
them? Are they programmed
differently?
As Yaakov anticipates that his days are
coming to an end, he gathers his children
to bestow berachos upon them. He
likens his son Yehuda to a lion, the King
of the animals and with that metaphor
foreshadows that the monarchy will
descend from Yehuda: “Gur aryeh
Yehuda mi’teref b’ni alisa, kara ravatz
k’aryeh, u’chelavi mi y’kimenu, a cub
and a grown lion is Judah. From the
prey, my son, you withdrew. He
crouched, rested like a lion, and like a
lion, who will rouse him?”
Indeed, this week’s Haftorah tells the
story of Dovid Hamelech a descendant
of Yehuda, and the progenitor of the
Davidic dynasty.
In describing Yehuda as a lion, Yaakov
is highlighting that Yehuda’s personality
radiated power, strength, authority,
courage and prominence. Like a lion,
he was an invincible warrior, a
triumphant King.
But what is Yaakov communicating
with the imagery of karah ravatz, the
lion crouching down and mi yekimenu,
nobody can awaken him? The simple
understanding is that he is so powerful,
so strong, that even when he is resting
and crouched down, nobody dares to
rouse him.
However, the Kotzker Rebbe interprets
the pasuk differently. He suggests
Yehuda’s greatness and worthiness to
be the source of Jewish monarchy is not
his invincibility and infallibility, but
exactly the opposite. Says the Kotzker
Rebbe, karah ravatz. He is not only a
lion when he stands upright, but even
when he falls, when he fails or makes a
mistake. Mi yekimenu, who can rouse
him from his fall? Nobody but Yehuda,
who has the internal strength, resolve,
tenacity and drive to pick himself back
up and return to his relentless pursuit of
success.
Rabbi Soloveitchik quoted this insight

from the Kotzker and added that at
Yosef’s sale, Yehuda acted not like a
lion, but a coward. He crouched to
the ground and failed to show
leadership. Yet, he rose by himself
without anyone extending a helping
hand. He made a terrible mistake
with Tamar, but he repented with a
contrite heart. He was not
embarrassed to publicly confess, to
admit the truth in front of all his
friends and associates and say, Tzadka
mimeni, she was more righteous than I.
Do you know what it means to see
yourself as a lion? You are not just a
lion when you are on top of the world,
things are going your way, you are in
control, disciplined and living your best
life. Being a lion means even when
down and out, even when undisciplined
and falling, even when failing on
resolutions and goals, you nevertheless
still believe there is a lion in you,
waiting to roar. It means picking
yourself up, rededicating yourself to the
goal, the resolution, the commitment,
the relationship, the promise or pledge.
Look around us. We live in a time of
lambs, not lions. When the going gets
tough, people bail on relationships,
jobs, commitments and goals. We are
living in a disposable society and in a
time of CDD. We all know ADD –
attention deficit disorder. Many are
suffering CDD – commitment deficit
disorder.
But that is not us. We are a stubborn

people. We have a sense of stick-with-
it-ness. The Sfas Emes quotes the

Targum Yonasan on our Parsha who
says this is in fact why we are called
“Yehudim.” Each one of us is a Yehudi,
a descendant of Yehuda. Even if you
are a Kohen or Levi, you also descend
from Yehuda. We are called Yehudim
because we have internal strength to
elevate ourselves after we have fallen.
We have the will to stand back up and
roar. Says the Sfas Emes, the uniqueness
of Yehuda was that after the episode
with Tamar, he didn’t feel doomed,
hopeless or despondent. He wasn’t
disappointed in himself or resigned to
failure. He was always ready to start

anew, begin again and, as Yehudim, it is
that strength and that conviction that he
instilled in us.
Do you know what the difference is
between the 92% who fail to fulfill their
New Year’s resolutions and the 8% who
succeed? It is their belief in themselves
as a lion, not only when all is going
well, but even or especially when they
hit a bump in the road. It is the belief
that if they are knocked down, if they
miss a week at the gym, or cheat on
their diet, or lose their patience, or have
an impulse buy, that it isn’t all over, it
just means, like Yehuda, having the will
and strength to begin again.
Mi yekimenu – nobody can rouse the
lion but himself. Steve Salerno, author
of “How the Self Help Movement made
America Helpless,” demonstrates how
believing the solution is outside of
ourselves is not only not a solution, but
actually promotes and reinforces the
problem. Certainly, there are tools,
values, people, classes and books that
can help us accomplish our goals and
become the best version of ourselves.
But the changes that we are looking for
must come from within ourselves.
Yehuda’s dignity and majesty were the
result of his drive and determination. If
this is to be our year of making our
resolutions come true, the answer is not
anywhere but inside ourselves.
Research shows that you are 42 percent
more likely to achieve your goal if you
write it down. Articulate it, make a plan
to achieve it, ask others for help making
you accountable with it, and most
importantly, resolve in your heart that
not if, but when, you get knocked off of
it, you will roar like a lion and get right
back on.