Lesson 063 · posted Wed Sep 16 2026

Bored of Your Routine?

What Judaism says about newness: five ideas, each with its source.

5 things Judaism can teach us about newness. Routine is a frame. Attention is the picture. Same words, same mornings — new every single one.

1. 1

   New every morning.

   חדשים לבקרים

   “New every morning.”Lamentations 3:23

   “They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:23. Written in the ruins. Even there, mornings were new.

2. 2

   Sing a new song.

   שיר חדש

   “Sing a new song.”Psalm 96:1

   “Sing to the Lord a new song.” — Psalm 96:1. The same Psalm, sung for millennia, keeps commanding newness. That's the trick.

3. 3

   This day. As if new.

   היום הזה

   “This day. As if new.”Deuteronomy 26:16

   “This day the Lord commands you.” — Deuteronomy 26:16. Rashi: every day, treat the words as if given today. The routine is only old if you read it that way.

4. 4

   Renew our days as of old.

   חדש ימינו

   “Renew our days as of old.”Lamentations 5:21

   “Renew our days as of old.” — Lamentations 5:21. Renewal and old in one sentence. The tradition sees no contradiction.

5. 5

   Thank you before the phone.

   מודה אני

   “Thank you before the phone.”custom, Modeh Ani

   Modeh Ani — “I thank You” — the first words on waking, every day, the same. Repetition isn't the enemy of wonder. Inattention is.

Art on the slides: Edouard Manet, The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil (1874) · Richard Parkes Bonington, View near Rouen (ca. 1825) · Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers (1887) · Edmond-François Aman-Jean, The Outskirts of a Village (ca. 1880) · Jacob van Ruisdael, Grainfields (mid- or late 1660s) · John Hoppner, Mrs. John Garden (Ann Garden, 1769–1842) and Her Children, John (1796–1854) and Ann Margaret (born 1793) (1796 or 1797) · Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Winter Landscape, Holland (1833). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, open access.