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A Lesson From the Torah: How to Make Meaningful Change in Your Life
James Clear, author of the global bestseller Atomic Habits, had an unusual pathway to his expertise in turning tiny daily actions into who you are. It began with a shocking accident while playing baseball in high school. A friend’s bat slipped out of his hands and landed in Clear’s face, breaking his nose, shattering his eye sockets, and crushing the bones in his face. The blow was so severe that it drove his brain against the inside of his skull, landing him in a medically induced coma.
When he eventually woke up, nothing was automatic anymore — not walking, not talking, not even the basic movements most of us take for granted. His recovery was a nightmare: months of painstaking repetition. The smallest actions had to be done over and over until he could manage them again.
Clear learned the hard way that life changes in tiny increments: take one step, then another, until you can do it without thinking. Over time, those small, repeated actions restored his motor skills — and rewired his brain. Modern science calls it neuroplasticity. It became the foundation of Clear’s philosophy: extraordinary results are built, brick by tiny brick, on ordinary habits.
The science is fascinating. Somewhere deep in your brain, there’s a grumpy little troll whose job it is to resist change. Neuroscientists have given him a fancier name — the basal ganglia — but “grumpy little troll” feels more accurate. That grumpy troll likes routine. He likes patterns. And once you’ve been doing something long enough, he cements it in so tightly that changing it feels like trying to un-bake a cake.
The good news is that if you repeat a good habit often enough, the troll eventually goes along with it and says, “Fine, I guess this is who we are now.” That’s why habit stacking works, and why things you do sporadically never take hold.
The thing about habits is that they’re not glamorous. They don’t announce themselves with fireworks or a brass band. They sneak in quietly, one small action at a time, until they’ve completely rewired your identity.
Neuroscientists have the MRI scans to prove it: every time you repeat a behavior, you’re strengthening the neural pathway for it, turning what was once a shaky dirt track into a smooth, well-paved highway your brain can travel without effort.
That’s why going for a run every morning eventually feels natural — and why eating ice cream straight from the tub at 11 p.m. can, unfortunately, also feel natural if you do it every night. The neural process doesn’t judge — it just reinforces whatever you practice most.
History is full of proof that collective habits can either build nations up or quietly steer them toward disaster. Take the British love affair with tea. What began in the 1600s as a pricey, exotic import became so entrenched in the national character that it shaped global trade routes, fueled colonial ambitions, and even had a role in the American Revolution. And all because the English love to drink a “cuppa” tea.
Consider Japan’s obsession with detail and perfection. Post–World War II, out of the ashes of defeat, Japan turned this national characteristic to its advantage, using it as the basis for meticulous quality control in manufacturing. Within a few decades, “Made in Japan” was all you needed to know about a product to trust that it was made with a gold standard of excellence.
Or think about America’s ingrained focus on individualism — a trait that wasn’t the natural state of being for the immigrants who built the nation, and certainly not the defining feature of the countries they came from. And yet, over time, that relentless belief in personal responsibility and self-reliance became a cornerstone of the American story, fueling its transformation into one of history’s greatest success stories.
Which brings me back to James Clear. Whether it’s tea in Britain, precision in Japan, or self-reliance in America, national habits are just the collective version of what happens to individuals. We all become what we repeatedly do.
Clear’s own journey — from a no-hoper invalid to relearning how to walk to becoming a leading voice on self-improvement — proves that our identity is shaped one small, deliberate action at a time. Change the habit, and over time you change the person. The trick is starting small, repeating often, and letting those tiny wins quietly but determinedly redefine who you are.
And this is precisely the point Moses makes at the beginning of Parshat Eikev (Deut. 7:12): וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם – “And it shall be, if you surely listen to these laws, and keep them and do them, God will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers.”
The word eikev is unusual — it literally means “heel.” Rashi explains that Moses used it deliberately, as a reference to the kind of mitzvot people might metaphorically “tread underfoot” — the ones they consider unimportant.
Moses was saying: don’t ever make that mistake, because it’s exactly those seemingly small, everyday acts — the ones you’re tempted to skip because they don’t feel monumental — that are the most powerful in shaping who you are. Over time, they become the habits that define you, your values, and ultimately, your destiny.
Moses was giving the Jewish nation what might be history’s first recorded behavioral-science pep talk. He wasn’t just telling them to keep the commandments — he was telling them to keep keeping them. Over and over. Every day. Without fail.
And not just the obvious, headline-grabbing commandments — the ones you want people to notice when you do them — but also the “minor” ones, the mitzvot nobody thinks are important. Moses understood something that modern psychologists and neurologists now confirm: greatness — whether personal, national, or spiritual — only comes from the accumulation of consistent, repeated actions.
Spiritual life — and a life of real faith — isn’t built on occasional bursts of inspiration. It’s built on habits. Daily prayer, honest business dealings, acts of kindness and charity, Shabbat observance — none of these are one-off acts of virtue. They’re patterns, repeated again and again, until they become part of who you are.
And once they’re habits, they transform you from someone who sometimes does good things into someone who naturally, instinctively, always does the right thing. Because the road to greatness is never a sprint — it’s a long, steady, repetitive walk that will get you there in the end.
The author is a rabbi based in Beverly Hills, California.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.