Inspiration or Perspiration?

The purpose of this blog is to inspire ingenuity at the Shabbat table ....please print, share, and forward.

Do you know how many days until Passover?
 

To the left is one of my favorite quotes.

And here is another one on the same theme:

Wynton Marsalis tells of a young musician who asks him,

"Wynton - how can I break into the music business?"

The maestro's timeless answer:

"First you got to break into a practice room!"

(By the way, in case you think of Marsalis as a "jazz musician", watch this and this [especially what he says at 4:38].)

As I mentioned in this week's Torah Health and Fitness podcast (link below), Sunday's funeral of Rav Chaim Kanievsky z''l inspired countless eulogies on one theme: his incredible self-discipline.

For 75 years, he committed himself to study a certain number of pages of Jewish wisdom per day. 

He did not - it has been reported - have a photographic memory like some of our most famous sages. He did have that great commitment.

Interestingly, someone once asked Rav Chaim when and how he began his legendary daily routine.

He said that he started when he was sixteen years old. However, that year, he failed to live up to the commitment.

The next year, he got a fresh start, and again failed to keep up the daily quota that he had created for himself.

The third year he achieved it.

This then is the epitome of the tzaddik. In Jewish thought, a tzaddik is not a "perfect person" - such a person does not exist and never did exist, and any religion or culture that puts someone on a pedestal and says, "this is a perfect person" is a false ideology.

A tzaddik is a person who - after failing - never gives up.

If Rav Chaim could do it - so could you.

Two questions for your table:

1. Couldn't you?

2. What's something you'd love to accomplish/learn/achieve in your time on this planet, but seems too daunting?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - The Jews of Ukraine, and Jewish refugees from Ukraine, are still in great need. Click here to help.
PPS - Yes, the image above is clickable (as always).

PPPS -  This week's 10-minute podcast is called  "Something to Chew On" and there are 10 ways to hear it:

iTunes/iPhone … YidPod … Spotify … Google Podcasts … Pocketcasts … Stitcher … Podbean … Amazon Podcasts … RSS … or just on the web.

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Is This Ethical Slavery?

The purpose of this blog is to set free the Shabbat table conversation ....please print, share, and forward.
Do you know how many days until Passover?

So in case you were wondering, the photo last week was indeed of Solotvyn, Ukraine a hundred years ago or so.

(And click on last week's photo for an excellent book on the history of Jews in Odessa.)

In today's photo on the left, you're looking at the latest trend in camel racing.

Evidently the centuries-old "sport" of camel racing is still wildly popular.

As in horse racing, the lighter the jockey, the faster the camel.

The problem is until very recently camel racers were routinely using children as jockeys and in addition to putting children at great risk there was (or possibly still is) an active slave-trade of child-jockeys from all over Asia.

(According to one report, the use of children only began in the 1970s.)

The solution: robot jockeys. 

They're not fully robotic (i.e., independent); they are remote-controlled by a human following alongside in an SUV.

If you have four minutes to spare, watch this well-edited BBC video. You'll get a feel for the appeal.

This invention is obviously a great thing, if it saves children from exploitation.

But it opens up two burning questions for your Shabbat table:

1. If the camels are being jockeyed by robots, is camel racing still a sport?

2. A broader question about sentient robots — would it ever become unethical to treat an artificial intelligence as a slave?


¡ ɯᴉɹnԀ ʎddɐH

and

Shabbat Shalom

PS - The Jews of Ukraine, and Jewish refugees from Ukraine, are still in great need. Click here to help.
PPS - Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger has created a thoughtful message for Russians - if enough people share it, maybe it will make an impact.
PPPS - For info on current efforts to end slavery and child trafficking, click here.

PPPPS -  This week's 10-minute podcast is called  "To Indulge or Not to Indulge - That is the Question" and there are 10 ways to hear it:

iTunes/iPhone … YidPod … Spotify … Google Podcasts … Pocketcasts … Stitcher … Podbean … Amazon Podcasts … RSS … or just on the web.

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Can Good Come Out of Ukraine?

The purpose of this blog is to promote pattern-seeking at the Shabbat table....please print, share, and forward.

Just in time for Purim, here's a coincidence to share at the table.

By chance, yesterday I learned something about my Ukrainian ancestry.

If you recall, two weeks ago I mentioned that three of my four sets of grandparents' parents came from Ukraine.

The fourth set - the Seinfelds - officially came from "Galicia" (Ga-LIT-sia).

On today's map, that could be in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary — who knows?

So ever since Isaac Singer told my father, "You look like Seinfelds I knew back in Poland," our best guess was that the Seinfelds came from somewhere near Krakow. We had no other evidence. 

But this week I was contacted by someone researching the original Jewish community of my hometown. She found grandpa Seinfeld's US naturalization card in some Chicago archive.

It turns out that my father's father's father Sigmond was born in Solotwina, now called Solotvyn, Ukraine in 1881. 

That area called Galicia has the disgraceful distinction of being the home of history's first and possibly worst pogroms, the Chemielnitski massacres. (Also known as the Cossack Riots.)

Even today (as I mentioned last week) Ukraine retains much antisemitism. 

For example, despite its Jewish president, to this day the city of Kyiv continues to honor Bogdan Chemielnitski with an huge equestrian statue in the middle of town:

(Here's a detailed close-up.)

How would you feel if you lived in Kyiv and every day drove by that memorial to one of the biggest murderers of Jews in history? 

(And don't hope that the Russians are going to target it - in Moscow there's the fairly new Bogdan Khmelnitsky Bridge)

These pogroms continued sporadically for centuries throughout the region, including Warsaw (1881), Kishinev (1903), and Kiev (1905).

Imagine growing up Jewish in that environment. It's no wonder that thousands of young Jews, including my great-grandparents, ran away.

Question for your table: What's today's war all about for you and me? Is it mainly politics, is it mainly history, is it mainly economics, or is it mainly a Jewish story of Jewish suffering and a Jewish call to arms?

(There are many ways to help. See last week's post.)

A few more random questions for your table:

- Is the fact that Poland is accepting millions of refugees — many of whom are Jewish — a sign of human progress?

- Should we do everything we can to encourage Jews to leave Ukraine, or should we mind our own business?

- Does it matter where you came from or how far back you can trace your ancestry?

- Purim is next week - due to current events, should we maybe skip Purim this year, or at least tone it down?

- Choosing to help someone is obviously a tremendous mitzvah; is not helping also a choice, or would that be considered a lack of a choice?


Shabbat Shalom

and 

¡ɯᴉɹnԀ ʎddɐH


PPS -  This week's 6.5-minute podcast is called "Healthy ɯᴉɹnԀ!" and there are 10 ways to hear it:

iTunes/iPhone … YidPod … Spotify … Google Podcasts … Pocketcasts … Stitcher … Podbean … Amazon Podcasts … RSS … or just on the web.

Appreciated this Table Talk? Like it, tweet it, forward it....

Don't Message the Shooter!

The purpose of this blog is to promote some brotherly and sisterly love at the Shabbat table and beyond....please forward to someone who may enjoy, and of course print and share at your own.

As tempting as it is to follow last week's Ukrainian-Jewish history lesson with some politics, this is not going to be about politics.

That said, I'm going to quote a political scientist.

Six-and-a-half years ago, Professor John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) spoke about Ukraine, explaining how the US/Allies completely misunderstand Russia, about how things might turn out, and basically warns about exactly what's happening today. (Worth watching the entire thing but if you don't have time, start around 30:00).

He predicts, "If the US and Europe take Route A, then conflict can possibly be avoided, but if they take Route B then Russia will try to destroy Ukraine. And they're not going to take Route A."

Question for your table: if the powers-that-be won't listen to an eminent professor from the University of Chicago, what can an average person hope to do here? 

For you and me, this isn't about politics, it's about our fellow Jews. It's pretty simple.

Here's some of them in a bomb shelter in Kiyv. Could've been your parents or grandparents.

Here's some who are orphans.

Yet then there's this comment seen on Reddit:

Ukraine was still paving its streets with Jewish tombstones until 2013:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/lviv-to-stop-using-jewish-tombs-as-pavement/amp/

Ukraine's Jew-themed restaurant, where you wear fake payot and haggle over prices:

https://www.haaretz.com/amp/food/a-queasy-dinner-at-lviv-s-jewish-eatery-1.5426688

There are many reasons why I side with Ukraine in this conflict but allegedly being less antisemitic than Russia is absolutely not one of them.

Bottom line, it's tough to be a Ukrainian Jew right now.

There are many ways to help. Many local federations are sending emergency care packages. Or you can give money directly to the local Ukrainian Chabad programs who are doing so much to aid their communities, including Rabbi Wolfe in Odessa.

Or the Krakow JCC who are taking care of Ukrainian refugees.

As I wrote last week, United Hatzolah of Ukraine is asking us to help - they need funds for medical supplies now. Here's the link. Or here.

As I said last week, even if you give a small amount, every name added to the list also gives them tremendous chizuk (encouragement).

In addition to those specifically Jewish causes, there are some general aid options; the following comes from source I trust:

As a former Ukrainian refugee with personal connections to those who are currently in Ukraine or on the border, I can personally vouch for and highly recommend these three families who are actively helping in Ukraine:

1. Agape International/Fedorchuk family. They (and many of their volunteers) are still physically in Ukraine helping orphanages and kids/families stuck in bomb shelters. They risk their lives in search of food, clean water and medicine. More info about their work can be found here.  They just transported 50 people to safety yesterday! Here is a link for ways to donate: http://agapeua.com/

2. Alina Khimich + Family. They are currently at the Ukraine/Polish border working 13 hour shifts to receive refugees. They have their young daughter with them who is handing out stuffed animals to the kids. I personally know this family. They set up a Venmo account for these efforts here: @alina-khimich. Please note "for Ukraine" in the memo box.

3. Pavlovich family. They are helping the elderly that have been left behind. Their updates are on Instagram @teepavlovich. Donations via Venmo: @Tatyana-Pavlovich

Question for your table.... Tip O'Neill famously said "all politics is local;" what about chased (lovingkindness) - is all chesed local?  


Shabbat Shalom


PPS -  This week's 8-minute podcast is called "Time for a Review?" and there are 10 ways to hear it:

iTunes/iPhone … YidPod … Spotify … Google Podcasts … Pocketcasts … Stitcher … Podbean … Amazon Podcasts … RSS … or just on the web.

Appreciated this Table Talk? Like it, tweet it, forward it....