Beit Polska Blog

Thoughts on parashat Miketz

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.[…]

Beit Warszawa – The German Government has just done something really quite remarkable as I write these words – but I am sure anyone interested will find still on the Internet the relevant items under ”www.bundesregierung.besonderehelden” or similar. They have produced three short 90-second videos in which elderly people look back to ”the Corona winter of 2020” and how they were then young students behaving as young students do (this is SO funny and so realistically portrayed) and how they were ”especial heroes” in that[…]

For Beit Warszawa, 12th December 2020 – This week’s sidra starts off with a calm, reassuring verse about Jacob feeling at last that he can settle down in peace in the land where his fathers were only wandering foreigners. ”Vayeshev Ya’akov be’Eretz megurey Aviv, beEretz Canaan.” It is, sadly, about the last calm verse in the whole sidra. Ironically, before the chapter is over Joseph, […]