Jewish wisdom on seeing below the surface of our lives.
This is a picture of Liviu Librescu, a Jewish man who survived the holocaust to build a family during turbulent times in Israel, and then spent the last twenty years as a professor at Virginia Tech University.
"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers" – Voltaire
Imagine that you’re sitting in the middle of a theater, watching a movie of your life on a split screen. On one side of the screen would be one of your worst days – a day when you felt helpless and overwhelmed by your worries, fears and responsibilities. On the other side would be one of your best days – a day when you felt at peace; when you felt excited and fortunate just to be alive.
“Live every moment.”
“Be in the present.”
“Don’t take life for granted.”
We’ve heard these statements all of our lives.
To be honest, it's probably a wonderful thing that in the US we as a Jewish community experience two New Years, one spiritual, the other secular. It gives us a chance to think about some of the personal commitments we made just a few months ago.
Why is Chanukah unique amongst Jewish Holidays in that we are required to light the Menorah and teach its lesson at home with our families and NOT at synagogue?
Last Sunday morning I ran our car into a telephone pole near Bellingham. Our entire family was in the car.
It’s amazing how much time one has to think during the precious seconds between the realization that you are going have a car accident and the impact itself. “The Children! The Children!” repeated itself at incredibly high decibel levels over and over again. “Since I won’t be missing the pole, should we hit it head on, or should I try to slide into it sideways? Why didn’t I get a car with better air bags? The Children! I’m sorry Techiya!”
I’ve never had a silent scream before.
I wish I could tell you I was praying to G-d to protect us.
Then we hit the electric pole. There was a loud noise and I saw white.
“He lived a full Life”
Sounds like something I’d like said about me after I’m gone. Sure beats “He lived an empty one!” But what exactly constitutes a full life?
“Do you know what a bachur is?”
It seemed like a pretty strange question to me at first. After all, I had just sat down with my rabbi for my first lesson on marriage, and I wasn’t expecting a vocabulary quiz. Besides, I had already lived in Israel for more than eight years and certainly spoke enough Hebrew to know the definition of that simple word.
Consider: What is the relationship between expectations and disappointments?
Consider: What is the relationship between expectations and gratitude?
Consider: What does the Torah say about one having expectations?
Why is it when someone else runs a yellow light or pulls in front of us in the highway we get self righteous and indignant, but we when we run the yellow or cut in front of another car we don’t consider it to be such a crime?
It’s been a long 5 days since our sense of security was shattered by murder of our beloved Pam Waechter and the shooting of the four other members of our community. We all have gone around the circle of feeling violated, angry, despairing, and confused. But when our reaction subsides, what is it replaced by? How are we to understand what has gone on in our community? What will be different?
"So much for talking about the weather or even arguing about politics, he had just fired a shot across my rabbinic bow and was waiting for an answer."
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