Dec. 15, 2025

We Think We Need Something New, But We Really Need To Make What Matters Feel New Again (Chanukah)

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Season 8

Ever notice how quickly we jump to the next thing—new job, new podcast, new scroll—without finishing what’s in front of us? We chase novelty as if the cure for boredom lives just over the horizon. But what if the real fix isn’t finding something new, it’s learning to make what matters feel new again?

We unpack the honest reasons people leave: the job that lost its spark, the marriage that feels routine, the study that no longer stirs the heart. Instead of shaming those impulses, we trace them to burnout and a preview-first mindset shaped by endless feeds and constant options. Then we pivot to a different practice: renewal. Drawing on the spirit of Chanukah—rooted in chinuch, dedication and beginnings—we explore how to re-dedicate commitments so they stay alive. That means meeting work with purpose, nurturing relationships with simple daily rituals, and approaching learning as if it’s being given today.

Through historical lessons about what happens when service turns rote, we highlight the cost of “meh” and the power of youthful zeal grounded in worth. Renewal isn’t hype; it’s clear-eyed value that energizes action. You’ll hear practical ways to revive meaning: finish more often, set small constraints that focus attention, re-anchor goals to people you serve, and light figurative candles that mark fresh starts. This is a roadmap for those who feel the drift and want their commitments—career, love, or faith—to glow again instead of dimming into habit.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to tell us where you’ll begin again today.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



00:02 - Why We Walk Away

00:50 - Naming The Burnout

01:02 - The Case For Renewal

01:23 - Chanukah As Fresh Beginning

02:29 - When Service Turns Routine

02:51 - Choosing Zeal Over Meh

WEBVTT

00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.519
Why do couples get divorced?

00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:18.079
Why do promising young business executives suddenly change courses in their profession to seek new adventures?

00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:27.920
Why do young, promising Torah prodigies suddenly close their Gemaras to go seek fame and fortune out there in the real estate world?

00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:36.560
Why don't we finish certain talks or songs that we listen to or finish chapters that we're reading when we're scrolling through social media?

00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:42.159
But why do we have to go on to the next thing to see what lies just ahead?

00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:45.759
It's often the very same answer.

00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:50.560
It's just burnt out.

00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.600
The job isn't very exciting anymore.

00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.159
My marriage isn't what it used to be.

00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.200
The learning, I just don't feel it.

00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:01.600
So we want something new.

00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:22.480
But perhaps the problem isn't that we want something new, but it's in fact that we lack the commitment to keeping our objectives and our lives new and fresh.

00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.920
See, Khanukkah brings with it a certain excitement.

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The word chanukkah itself actually comes from the word chinuch, which means a new beginning.

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Chanuch.

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Kinuch Lenar.

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Begin the child.

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Chanuukah.

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It's an instituting, an inauguration.

00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:48.159
Chanukah is in the middle of the cold and dark winter, and we celebrate a new beginning.

00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:57.840
In fact, the Torah coaxes us to keep our relationship to Torah new and fresh.

00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.959
It should be every single day as if the Torah had been given.

00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.599
Wake up with a modahani with an excitement.

00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:06.480
So maybe yes.

00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:21.599
One is not faulted for wanting to keep his 50th anniversary as fresh as Hashanah Rishona, or his business to be his most exciting thing, or his Torah to be like his very day of his upshare, and when he just met the Olif base.

00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:26.000
The goal is to keep it like that, as much as possible.

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The ultimate tragedy that began to befall the Jewish people, the Hellenistic approach, it all started to fall apart because, says the Bach.

00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:38.960
Sayyidina Maharam.

00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:41.039
The His rashulba'a voda.

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Back then, the service became melancholy.

00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:48.159
Our service of Hashem became habitual by rote.

00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:51.360
It was just blasé, it was just meh, it was bland.

00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.520
The Matazio and his sons.

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They were Moister Nefesh because they understood the worth, and it was new, it was fresh, so they went out and said, This is something worth fighting for.

00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:02.000
A youthful exuberance.

00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.120
I'm not burnt out.

00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:14.240
But I understand the Erich, the depth of what it means to live as a Jew, and I understand why everyone wants to take it away from me.

00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:20.960
And why the Aetzahar tries so hard, and the Romans and the Greeks have all tried to remove my Jewish spirit.