FOSTERING A VIBRANT RENEWAL OF JUDAISM IN POLAND
When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne him children, the wife and her children shall belong to the master, and he shall leave alone. But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and[…]
Difficult realities create strong people. If they are smart and righteous enough they build better reality for their children. As the time and development progresses, the new generations do not have to face the harsh reality their grandparents faced. Life, in general, becomes easier and more pleasant. Over time, an easy and pleasant life tends to create people that are less strong or simply weak -[…]
I have always been struck how Judaism is a study in discipline, at the root, a lesson on how to live one’s life. The Torah is rich with life lessons interwoven in stories, practices, repetition and rhetoric. Perhaps the most telling example of this is the practice of Pesach. In parashat Bo, God lays out the 7-day syllabus that we all recognize and have recreated for over 3500 years: […]
“No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth”, said Plato. “Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it”, said Voltaire. “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for”, said Bob Marley.[…]
The end of the secular year 2020 is approaching. For many of us it is a time of reflection on our accomplishments and disappointments. We evaluate our lives and make plans for the future. For many 2020 hasn’t been such a good year. The worldwide pandemic affected our lives significantly: some of us lost loved ones, many lost jobs, incomes and savings and we have also lost our freedom. Our hope and faith in a[…]
One definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. While there is a lot of truth to this rather amusing statement, I challenge this conclusion. It would be absolutely true if we had full control over the results of our actions and over other factors that influence those results, however, we have no such control. Additionally, we don’t get everything right the first time we try – so repeating it again, might in fact produce a different result. The same is true of risk-taking situations: these situations, by definition, do not guarantee the desired results. Therefore, at the onset, the truth of the statement is limited.[…]
