How To: "Soul Accounting" in 5 Steps

Rosh Hashanah is about coming in the presence of the King of the universe for an evaluation of our lives.

We are taught that Yeshua takes our sins upon Himself and it is true. On the other hand, the apostle tells us that we are ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’.

I agree that Yeshua takes from us the sins that we know and even the ‘secret faults’ as David called them. Some sins we don’t know because we haven’t grown to know them, but some sins we don’t know because we don’t want to know or we are not even searching.

We should make an effort sometimes to acknowledge our sin to ourselves by seeking deeper into our hearts and being using more aggressive in the matter.

How can we be better people if we don’t know how to fix it, and no it doesn’t just happen by the stroke of the magic wand of the Holy Spirit. We have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Such a soul searching (cheshbon hanefesh), such work takes time, and many a businessman shuts down his operations for a day in order to draw up his yearly report.

What is a good way to appropriately quantify soul-searching?

Mathematics wouldn’t help us. Mathematics deals with dry numbers, whereas an "accounting of the soul," as suggested by its name, deals with matters of the heart and soul.

A Chassidic Rabbi one day gave a relevant parallel to the cheshbon hanefesh: the account and balance sheet every business creates yearly.

Now, any businessman knows that without a balance sheet he has no way of knowing whether his business drew profits or losses. The fact that a store is full of shoppers doesn't say anything; people may come to browse and compare prices, but do not make purchases. Only when the owner draws up a proper balance sheet does he know whether his business is profitable and the year successful.

We, too, can be busy from morning to night, but once a year, we need to take time off to contemplate our most important "business"—that is, our service of our Creator.

Have we progressed towards this goal in the past year? Have we improved our relationship with God? Have we become better people, better Children of God, better examples of Him to others?

Here is a practical guide for conducting a cheshbon hanefesh. It may take some time, there's no need to complete it in one day.

Step One:
Draw two large squares on a paper. Title the first one: "Me and God"; the second: "Me and My Fellows."

Step Two:
In the "Me and God" category, write down the various spiritual commendments you observe, those you are aware of in your heart, those you are responsible to know. Next to each of these, write down whether this is an area in which you incurred a profit or loss in the past year.

Keep in mind that identical balance sheets can indicate a profit for one person and a loss for another. For example, a man who began to keep Shabbat this year who writes, "I kept Shabbat almost every week" has shown a profit; for someone who has done it since the age of 13, it is considered a loss.

Step Three:
In the "Me and My Fellows" section, write down all your notable relationships—e.g., your children, spouse, parents, friends, work buddies, and acquaintances. Here, too, write down next to each one whether you became closer to these people, distanced yourself, or did things you'd have been better off not doing...

Step Four:
The next two steps are the most important ones; without them, all the time invested in this accounting goes down the drain.

Take the "losses" of the year, and turn them into profits. Ask yourself, how can I be a better parent? How can I ensure that I keep Shabbat weekly? How can I improve the atmosphere in my home? How can I devote more time to Torah study? And should I be expanding my ‘business’? Are there other areas that don't even yet exist on my balance sheet that I should explore? A new commandment? A new relationship?

Step Five:
Until now, all the reckoning has been relatively quantifiable, and as such not so difficult. This step takes it to another level altogether.

Now it's time to look beyond all the individual behaviors, and analyze the patterns. Or to put it differently, to look at the inner soul workings that caused all the profits and losses.

• Why are you failing in certain areas?

• What is your perspective on life?

• How important to you are your relationships?

• Do you have a deep-seated commitment to fulfill your spiritual calling in life?

Once you have a better picture of who you are now, and who you'd like to be, then come the High Holidays you are ready to get under the covering and make the necessary changes and commitments.

You can become a different person.