The Religious Significance of Habits

PIKESVILLE, Maryland — In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) mentioned a fundamental teaching: virtue is not determined by something present in an individual from birth, but instead is developed through repeated actions and habits. He said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Proper behavior is the result of habits.”

By consistently practicing virtuous behaviors, people can develop a virtuous character. Aristotle’s teaching is in the second biblical portion of Deuteronomy, Ekev, and Maimonides accepted it, as did many others.

Gandhi wrote, “Your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” General Colin Powell said, “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.” Brené Brown agreed, “You get courage by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming.” Charles J. Givens did as well: “Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits.”

The lesson is contained in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 4:2, “Rush to a light mitzvah (command) as to a strict one and flee from transgression. For mitzvah leads to mitzvah, and transgression leads to transgression.”

Maimonides discussed the value of habits in many places, especially in his Shemoneh Perakim chapter 4, his Mishneh Torah Hilchot Deot chapter 2, and his commentary to Pirke Avot 4:4, where, in essence, he states that a person acquires proper character by developing habits according to the golden mean.

The biblical portion Ekev begins in Deuteronomy 7:12, saying, “The Lord your God will protect you with the covenant and mercy that He swore to your fathers because you obey these laws and do them.”

Rabbi Ronald D. Price writes in his book Divrei Halev that his teacher, Professor Halivni, wrote that the Torah’s Hebrew word Ekev, meaning “because,” suggests that observing simple commandments leads to the even more difficult and more significant mitzvot, and this, in turn, leads to a good life.

Price tells an anecdote dramatizing this lesson. “An individual came before a rabbi and took great pride in announcing that he successfully performed the mitzvah of pidyon shevurim (ransoming captives). This is a life-saving mitzvah and is thought to be among the most important and praiseworthy. The rabbi responded, ‘Please tell me what mitzvah you performed that made you worthy to fulfill pidyon shevurim.’”

The rabbi understood that behaviors that become habits lead to similar and even better behaviors.

Many cultures and religions, including Judaism, developed the practice to start each new year with resolutions to improve. In Judaism, this is done during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the “Ten Days of Repentance.”

Repentance means changing behaviors. In 2025, the ten days when Jews consider improving start with the New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah on September 22nd and end with the fast of Yom Kippur on October 2nd.

During the prayers read during these days, are the words, “The three things that avert the evil decree (that God sentences people for their improper acts) are repentance (teshuvah), prayer (tefillah), and charity (tzedakah).”

Maimonides, in his teachings on repentance, emphasizes that these three things are only designed to remind people of the need to change, but they do not achieve the change. Beliefs, emotions, prayers, or other words or acts unrelated to the wrong that was done do not assure future correct conduct any more than reciting the magic term “focus pocus.” It is necessary to alter behavior.

Maimonides outlines three steps one must take to accomplish the transformation: (1) recognizing that the improper behavior is wrong and correcting it, such as paying for the damage done, (2) stopping the behavior and resolving not to repeat it, and (3) developing habits that assure that behavior will not be repeated.

In short, developing proper habits is what the Torah, rabbis, and sages of all cultures recognized as essential.