Dire Strait?

 The purpose of this blog is to break down some barriers at the Shabbat table... Please share... 

They say that during the sentencing hearings at the Nuremberg Trials, the wife of one of the convicted German monsters made the following plea for leniency:

"My husband was so kind, he wouldn't hurt a flea!"

Question for your table: Was she lying? Insane? Merely distraught?

It seems to me that she was one hundred percent honest. I have no doubt that he would not have hurt a flea.

The problem is that he made up his mind that Jews and others were lower life forms than fleas.

The Talmud says that the Jewish People at the time of the Destruction in 70 CE - the 9th of Av, which is tonight - were full of Torah and mitzvot. So what went wrong?

The answer is that our chesed - our lovingkindness - was limited to our own group. It's hard enough to love people who are in your camp / party / denomination / etc. 

Someone in a different group? Almost impossible.

Question for your table: What's the hurdle? And how can you overcome it?


Shabbat Shalom


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