At the pre-Rosh-Hashanah Challah Babka Bake a student came over to me and asked me this question:
“Rabbi, I noticed you tend to wear your kippah tilted to a side, usually on the left side of your head, and wondered what the reason for that was?” He added, “I’m asking because you seem to always have a reason for doing things.”
Do I wear my kippah/yarmulka tilted to the side of my head? The left side? Maybe I do. My kids sometimes tell me to straighten out my yarmulka.
The reason? There’s no reason! Maybe it’s when I need a haircut? Maybe it slips to one side? I never thought about it!
But the students’ reason for asking me this question, that’s the reason why this is important: We do aspire to live our lives intentionally and with purpose, ideally motivated by some reason or inspiration. I can’t say we always live up to this, wish we would more. But it’s the ideal.
Tanya 15 says something very powerful about motivation: Going with the flow, acquiescing to one’s nature or peer-pressure, that doesn’t require motivation. What requires motivation is the opposite: Bucking the trend, being different, going against the grain, changing the norm. Going against our nature. That’s where motivation matters most.
What’s your reason? What makes you do that? What inspires you? What gets you started, what keeps you going? What will enable you to do something you never thought you could?
Kippah alignment aside, this is a great question. We ought to be asking ourselves this question more.