The purpose of this blog is to help you turn your Shabbat table into a salon. Please share.
It
has come to our attention that some people out there are "kind of
interested" in having a sukkah but find the project a bit daunting.
Maybe you don't know where to get one.
Maybe you don't know how to build one.
Maybe you don't think you're capable.
Now YOU TOO can build and enjoy a sukka.
There
are now two sukkahs you can get that go up without tools or significant
effort. One is so portable you could take it on a road trip.
We have links to both of them, plus a humorous short Sukka video here.
(Note - the seller we link to has announced that orders after today - September 28 - will not be filled.)
Question for your table: Is Sukkot part of the High Holy Days?
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Sukkot
PS - Many people enjoyed the Yom Kippur video I sent on Tuesday - if you didn't see it, it's timeless: The Landlord.
PPS - Please download our new fall bulletin here.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Three Things for Yom Kippur
In honor of Kyle and Shelli's anniversary. Mazal tov .... may you break many fasts together!
1. Please download our new fall bulletin by clicking here. (On the first page there is a New Year's challenge and on the second page a "secret" challenge....)
2. Please enjoy this video of Yom Kippur inspiration:
3. Saved the best for the last: The Landlord.
Happy Yom Kippur
PS - Today's your last chance to benefit from this year's Rosh Hashana - Yom Kippur prep class. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - If you haven't already, please tell everyone you know about the amazing Jewish app - http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink (Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
And our free database of the best Jewish books and gifts keeps getting better: http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com .
1. Please download our new fall bulletin by clicking here. (On the first page there is a New Year's challenge and on the second page a "secret" challenge....)
2. Please enjoy this video of Yom Kippur inspiration:
3. Saved the best for the last: The Landlord.
Happy Yom Kippur
PS - Today's your last chance to benefit from this year's Rosh Hashana - Yom Kippur prep class. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - If you haven't already, please tell everyone you know about the amazing Jewish app - http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink (Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
And our free database of the best Jewish books and gifts keeps getting better: http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com .
Friday, September 21, 2012
Whose Coat are You Wearing?
The purpose of this blog is to provide something creative for Shabbat table conversation. Please print and share.
So on Rosh Hashana morning it's a little drizzly and I throw on my light raincoat.
These new men's raincoats have become all the rage in Baltimore. Lightweight and inexpensive. They won't keep you warm, but they will keep you dry.
As long as it doesn't rain too hard.
And you can have them in any color you want!
So long as it's black.
But you know, regardless of whether or not my coat is hung in a sea of look-alikes, I don't like to have to go searching for my coat. So I developed a system to find my coat extremely quickly.
I turn the hanger around, hooking it on backwards.
(Hopefully no one in Baltimore is reading this, because if the word gets out, everyone's going to do this, and then it won't work anymore.)
Well, actually, on Rosh Hashana this year, my foolproof system failed me for the first time in years.
Unbeknownst to moi, someone (whom I know) had hung his nearly identical black raincoat right beside mine, also with the hanger turned around.
You know where this is going. When Rosh Hashana services are over, I take the coat from the reversed hanger. I.e., his coat.
Later in the day, towards evening, I decide to go to a different synagogue for the afternoon service. Again, a light drizzle, throw on the coat.
This time I notice that it isn't quite fitting me right but it isn't wrong enough for me to pay attention. I am in a hurry after all.
I get to this other synagogue and opt for the hooks instead of the hangers. Doesn't really matter, there aren't so many coats and besides, my name is in it, right?
The problem is, when I'm fixing to go home, I go for my coat and where I expect to find it, I find this other fellow's.
"Oh no," I'm thinking. He must have taken my coat by mistake. I could just take his to him, but what if he's already realized his error and is en route here to swap them?
So I leave it, and when I get home, I phone him up.
"Did you happen to be in such-and-such a shul tonight?"
But he's quicker-witted than I am.
"No, why is my coat there? Because I saw your coat in the other shul this morning where mine should have been."
Notice how I didn't accuse him of taking my coat.
But nor did I assume from the beginning that the error was mine!
"By the way," he added, "didn't you notice that it was a little big on you?" (he is about 50 pounds heavier than I).
"Well it wasn't raining, so I slung it over my arm."
"Oh, well that explains it."
You see, he had also stumbled, thinking for a moment that I must have been preposterously absent-minded not to notice that I had the wrong coat.
How many times has this happened to you, when you saw an error that you committed and assumed someone else had done it? (that's the weekly question, by the way)
Last week I challenged you to choose one character trait to change this year. It could be jumping to conclusions. It could be a short temper. It could be complaining. Or perhaps laziness. Maybe too much criticizing.
The trick to making it happen on Yom Kippur is:
1. Really regret it. Contemplate the damage you've done, or the opportunities lost, due to this trait. Let yourself feel bad about this, for a few moments.
2. Apologize if needed.
3. Commit to not doing it again - just this one trait. But if you're truly committed, you'll have a plan of how to eradicate it, such as reading a self-help book, or practicing meditation, etc. Without a concrete plan, you're paying lip-service but you're not real. Make it your mission, with daily practice, to conquer this trait before next Rosh Hashana.
We all share these bad habits to a greater or lesser degree. In this sense, they're like the ubiquitous, monotonous, homogeneous black rain coats. We've put on the homogenized raincoat of our socialization.
But to conquer one bad habit - even a small one - is so rare, that doing so is like wearing a new custom-made coat. Do this and there won't be any chance of mistaking it for someone else's. This is the path to revealing the real you beneath the socialized façade.
Wishing you a Shana Tova
and a
Shabbat Shalom
PS - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - Help your friends and loved ones break in their new iphone or ipad: The most amazing Jewish app - http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink (Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
And of course you can search our free database of the best Jewish books and gifts here: http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com .
So on Rosh Hashana morning it's a little drizzly and I throw on my light raincoat.
These new men's raincoats have become all the rage in Baltimore. Lightweight and inexpensive. They won't keep you warm, but they will keep you dry.
As long as it doesn't rain too hard.
And you can have them in any color you want!
So long as it's black.
But you know, regardless of whether or not my coat is hung in a sea of look-alikes, I don't like to have to go searching for my coat. So I developed a system to find my coat extremely quickly.
I turn the hanger around, hooking it on backwards.
(Hopefully no one in Baltimore is reading this, because if the word gets out, everyone's going to do this, and then it won't work anymore.)
Well, actually, on Rosh Hashana this year, my foolproof system failed me for the first time in years.
Unbeknownst to moi, someone (whom I know) had hung his nearly identical black raincoat right beside mine, also with the hanger turned around.
You know where this is going. When Rosh Hashana services are over, I take the coat from the reversed hanger. I.e., his coat.
Later in the day, towards evening, I decide to go to a different synagogue for the afternoon service. Again, a light drizzle, throw on the coat.
This time I notice that it isn't quite fitting me right but it isn't wrong enough for me to pay attention. I am in a hurry after all.
I get to this other synagogue and opt for the hooks instead of the hangers. Doesn't really matter, there aren't so many coats and besides, my name is in it, right?
The problem is, when I'm fixing to go home, I go for my coat and where I expect to find it, I find this other fellow's.
"Oh no," I'm thinking. He must have taken my coat by mistake. I could just take his to him, but what if he's already realized his error and is en route here to swap them?
So I leave it, and when I get home, I phone him up.
"Did you happen to be in such-and-such a shul tonight?"
But he's quicker-witted than I am.
"No, why is my coat there? Because I saw your coat in the other shul this morning where mine should have been."
Notice how I didn't accuse him of taking my coat.
But nor did I assume from the beginning that the error was mine!
"By the way," he added, "didn't you notice that it was a little big on you?" (he is about 50 pounds heavier than I).
"Well it wasn't raining, so I slung it over my arm."
"Oh, well that explains it."
You see, he had also stumbled, thinking for a moment that I must have been preposterously absent-minded not to notice that I had the wrong coat.
How many times has this happened to you, when you saw an error that you committed and assumed someone else had done it? (that's the weekly question, by the way)
Last week I challenged you to choose one character trait to change this year. It could be jumping to conclusions. It could be a short temper. It could be complaining. Or perhaps laziness. Maybe too much criticizing.
The trick to making it happen on Yom Kippur is:
1. Really regret it. Contemplate the damage you've done, or the opportunities lost, due to this trait. Let yourself feel bad about this, for a few moments.
2. Apologize if needed.
3. Commit to not doing it again - just this one trait. But if you're truly committed, you'll have a plan of how to eradicate it, such as reading a self-help book, or practicing meditation, etc. Without a concrete plan, you're paying lip-service but you're not real. Make it your mission, with daily practice, to conquer this trait before next Rosh Hashana.
We all share these bad habits to a greater or lesser degree. In this sense, they're like the ubiquitous, monotonous, homogeneous black rain coats. We've put on the homogenized raincoat of our socialization.
But to conquer one bad habit - even a small one - is so rare, that doing so is like wearing a new custom-made coat. Do this and there won't be any chance of mistaking it for someone else's. This is the path to revealing the real you beneath the socialized façade.
Wishing you a Shana Tova
and a
Shabbat Shalom
PS - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - Help your friends and loved ones break in their new iphone or ipad: The most amazing Jewish app - http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink (Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
And of course you can search our free database of the best Jewish books and gifts here: http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com .
Friday, September 14, 2012
What Matters Most
The purpose of this email is to provide something different for Shabbat table conversation. Please print and share.
Note - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
Last week, I promised some thoughts about how to use the High Holidays to make an incremental but real change in yourself so that 20 years from now people who haven't seen you every day will do a double take.
I'll give you one simple thought, and one simple, true story that I think sum up what Rosh Hashana is all about.
The thought:
The main theme of Rosh Hashana is once a year to stand up and justify why you deseve another year of life.
Whether you are a true believer or agnostic or even atheist, the exercise of justifying your own existence is pretty powerful stuff.
What do you hope to accomplish in the next year that justifies your continued existence?
And your answer doesn't have to be earth-shaking.
It could be as humble as, "If I can live another year, I want to conquer my complaining. I want to become a person who appreciates everything that I have! A happier person!"
The rabbis teach that if I person could conquer even one negative character trait, that would not only justify his/her own life, it would justify the existence of the entire universe.
Think about it.
That's Rosh Hashana. Try to do this on Monday/Tuesday next week, and then next Friday I'll send a short email on how to actually achieve that change.
Now here's the story:
The New York Times this week reviewed the new exposé by former Lance Armstrong teammate, Tyler Hamilton.
Hamilton tells in detail how the doping is/was done, not only by Armstrong, but by himself and practically every other cyclist.
Evidently it became so pervasive and the peer pressure so great that if you didn't dope, you might as well not compete. Here are Hamilton's own words:
“I think everybody who wants to judge dopers should think about it, just for a second. You spend your life working to get to the brink of success, and then you are given a choice: either join in or quit and go home. What would you do?”
I'll leave you, dear reader, with Hamilton's question to field at your Shabbat and Rosh Hashana tables.
Wishing you and yours a sweet, healthy, happy, successful 5773!
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Shabbat Shalom and l'Shana Tova
PS - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com has great High Holidays books and gifts.
Another great Jewish gift: The iPhone/iPad app http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink
( Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
Note - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
Last week, I promised some thoughts about how to use the High Holidays to make an incremental but real change in yourself so that 20 years from now people who haven't seen you every day will do a double take.
I'll give you one simple thought, and one simple, true story that I think sum up what Rosh Hashana is all about.
The thought:
The main theme of Rosh Hashana is once a year to stand up and justify why you deseve another year of life.
Whether you are a true believer or agnostic or even atheist, the exercise of justifying your own existence is pretty powerful stuff.
What do you hope to accomplish in the next year that justifies your continued existence?
And your answer doesn't have to be earth-shaking.
It could be as humble as, "If I can live another year, I want to conquer my complaining. I want to become a person who appreciates everything that I have! A happier person!"
The rabbis teach that if I person could conquer even one negative character trait, that would not only justify his/her own life, it would justify the existence of the entire universe.
Think about it.
That's Rosh Hashana. Try to do this on Monday/Tuesday next week, and then next Friday I'll send a short email on how to actually achieve that change.
Now here's the story:
The New York Times this week reviewed the new exposé by former Lance Armstrong teammate, Tyler Hamilton.Hamilton tells in detail how the doping is/was done, not only by Armstrong, but by himself and practically every other cyclist.
Evidently it became so pervasive and the peer pressure so great that if you didn't dope, you might as well not compete. Here are Hamilton's own words:
“I think everybody who wants to judge dopers should think about it, just for a second. You spend your life working to get to the brink of success, and then you are given a choice: either join in or quit and go home. What would you do?”
I'll leave you, dear reader, with Hamilton's question to field at your Shabbat and Rosh Hashana tables.
Wishing you and yours a sweet, healthy, happy, successful 5773!
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Shabbat Shalom and l'Shana Tova
PS - This year's High Holidays prep class is a short 45 minutes. To hear the audio and get the handouts, including the new "24 Questions to Think About from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur", click here.
PPS - http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com has great High Holidays books and gifts.
Another great Jewish gift: The iPhone/iPad app http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink
( Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar )
Friday, September 07, 2012
Can You Ever Go Home Again?
A couple days ago, I was showing someone in San Francisco JSL's newest
(top secret) project. He liked the project, but out of the blue asked me
the following question:
Why do you do what you do?
My answer is simple: I get to speak with (or communicate in writing with) highly intelligent people about interesting, meaningful things - greatest job in the world.
So here's one such topic for your Shabbat table that we discussed in San Francisco. It begins with a question:
Have you ever gone back to a town, maybe your hometown, after having been gone for a long time? What was it like?
Probably you were amazed by all the changes.
Similar question (for adults): Did you ever see someone as an adult that you'd last seen as a child? What was it like?
Why is it so amazing to see these changes after big gaps of time, but for the town we live in, or the children we see every day, the changes are not so amazing?
I'm sure you'll get various answers to this question and there is no need for me to add my 2-bits. But if you care to hear it, here's my take:
When we see a person or a place every day, the changes are so small and incremental that we hardly notice them, and then we grow accustomed to them and gradually forget how they used to be, how the town used to look.
One building built here, one facade changed there. Slowly, slowly.
But then there's the second question for your table:
Have you ever seen someone after 10 or 20 years or more, and they didn't seem to have changed at all? Same personality, same bad jokes, you know what I mean?
The purpose of this life is to grow and to change (for the better). The third and forth questions for your table are:
- Do you want to be the same person 20 years from now that you are today, or do you want to be greater? More caring, more patient, more disciplined, more honest....?
- If so, how are you going to get there?
Next week, the final email before Rosh Hashana, I'll send some thoughts about how to use the High Holidays to make an incremental but real change in your life (in yourself) so that 20 years from now people who haven't seen you every day will do a double take.
Shabbat Shalom
PS - http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com has great Rosh Hashana books and gifts.
The iPhone app: http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink
Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar
Why do you do what you do?
My answer is simple: I get to speak with (or communicate in writing with) highly intelligent people about interesting, meaningful things - greatest job in the world.
So here's one such topic for your Shabbat table that we discussed in San Francisco. It begins with a question:
Have you ever gone back to a town, maybe your hometown, after having been gone for a long time? What was it like?
Probably you were amazed by all the changes.
Similar question (for adults): Did you ever see someone as an adult that you'd last seen as a child? What was it like?
Why is it so amazing to see these changes after big gaps of time, but for the town we live in, or the children we see every day, the changes are not so amazing?
I'm sure you'll get various answers to this question and there is no need for me to add my 2-bits. But if you care to hear it, here's my take:
When we see a person or a place every day, the changes are so small and incremental that we hardly notice them, and then we grow accustomed to them and gradually forget how they used to be, how the town used to look.
One building built here, one facade changed there. Slowly, slowly.
But then there's the second question for your table:
Have you ever seen someone after 10 or 20 years or more, and they didn't seem to have changed at all? Same personality, same bad jokes, you know what I mean?
The purpose of this life is to grow and to change (for the better). The third and forth questions for your table are:
- Do you want to be the same person 20 years from now that you are today, or do you want to be greater? More caring, more patient, more disciplined, more honest....?
- If so, how are you going to get there?
Next week, the final email before Rosh Hashana, I'll send some thoughts about how to use the High Holidays to make an incremental but real change in your life (in yourself) so that 20 years from now people who haven't seen you every day will do a double take.
Shabbat Shalom
PS - http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com has great Rosh Hashana books and gifts.
The iPhone app: http://tinyurl.com/amazingcalendarlink
Android version: http://tinyurl.com/amazingandroidcalendar
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)