Shana Tova to all my fellow Jews. We are about to ask God, repeatedly, to “chadeish yameinu k’kedem” — make our days new, the way they used to be.

What does this mean? I take it to be a reminder — echoed at Kol Nidrei — that nothing is really determined and every moment is a moment where you can change paths. If you are having a day that you don’t like, or that God doesn’t like, or that neither of you likes, it isn’t determined that the next day is going to be the same, even though it might feel like tomorrow has to be like today. We are not asking God to make the year good. We’re just asking for the strength to pick what year we have. The rest is up to us.

But why k’kedem? I think the verse reminds us here that it’s not just that the future isn’t determined — it’s that the future was never determined, which means the present, the way you are, the person you are, might have been something other than what it is. That is unsettling. But prayer is supposed to be unsettling! Especially when an old year ends and a new year begins. Have a happy and unsettled 5786, everybody.