By Noah Zive Herzlia High School Gr 11 Pupil

As we all know, Rosh Hashanah is coming up! This means we’re entering a time of reflection in our year. The New Year allows us to consider what changes we can make and what we can do differently to improve this year. I went to a few fellow Herzlia pupils to discuss what they wanted to do to make a change in the coming year.

There were a few interesting mentions from pupils such as doing more acts of kindness, wanting to be more confident with what one does, eating more kosher food, saying prayers more frequently and more. All amazing ideas but one thing we want to touch on as our focus for this year is how we speak.

We often don’t realise the impact that our words have. Often one thing can make – or break – someone’s day. Let this be a reminder to spend each day saying one extra kind thing to someone you love because eventually, it all adds up. Being good to others with regard to what you say is vital, especially entering the month of Elul.

Another way we can focus on how we speak is by trying not to speak lashon hara (slander) no matter how tempting it may be. We don’t often realise the importance of not speaking lashon hara but to even go out of your way to stop yourself from talking about others is a great way to improve in the coming year.

On top of that, just speaking cleanly in general and keeping what you say as holy and as kind as you can. We often don’t realise the impact our words can have, it’s definitely larger than one might expect.

Overall, if there’s something we can suggest to do during 5784 in order to improve is just watching what we say that little bit extra.

Herzlia wishes everyone Shanah Tovah U’metukah!