Who Will Live?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this blog is to help everyone have a meaningful Yom Kippur... Please share...

Happy New Year! Here's a follow-up to last week's Rosh Hashanah message.

For many, one of the most powerful parts of the Days of Awe liturgy is the meditation,

Who will live? Who will die?
Whose death will be timely and who will die young, or too early?
Who by fire, who by water?
Who by hunger, who by virus?
Who will be rich and who will be poor?

We are offered the image of Rosh Hashanah setting the trajectory for the entire year — how you spend your Rosh Hashanah will determine your annual income, health and more.

Anyone saying "oops" right now? As in, "Oops, I didn't have a very meaningful Rosh Hashanah"...?

The good news is that we have until the end of Yom Kippur to alter the trajectory.

The easiest (hardest for some) way to do so is to increase our level of giving - acts of kindness and tzedakah.

Actions speak louder than words - show through your actions that your life is meaningful and purposeful.

But when you do so (perform an act of kindness or give tzedakah), appreciate and internalize that the giver benefits more than the recipient. You are gaining life, because giving is living.

In other words, don't look at giving as a "bribe" to God for another year of life (unless doing so motivates you to give, I suppose that might be useful). Giving is living means that if you're not giving, you're not truly living.  

Speaking of which: once or twice a year I invite you to show your appreciation for this weekly message by supporting this blog and our educational programs. Here are 5 ways you can become a partner or renew your partnership:

- For Paypal or Credit or Debit Card donation (one time, or make it monthly) click here.
- Venmo, Zelle, etc. click here for info.
- Through your local Federation - JSLI is registered in San Franciso, San Diego and Baltimore.
- Through Schwab Charitable - they have our address.
- Use https://smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate a % of the sale to the non-profit of your choice (such as Jewish Spiritual Literacy), at no extra cost to you. Why not? 

We'll thank you with our 40 Meditations for the High Holidays.

Shabbat Shalom

and

May you and yours be sealed for a good life!


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Stand and Deliver?

The purpose of this blog is to start thinking about the shofar on this last Shabbat of the year... Please share...

 

Try asking everyone at your table if they've ever heard of Jaime Escalante.

(That's pronounced "hy-me".)

Does anyone remember him anymore?

It's been said that he was the greatest math teacher in America.

What made him so great? How did he manage to take a group of barrio teenagers who supposedly had a bleak future and enable them to master advanced mathematics?

Using only chalk, paper, and pencil. No screens, no smart boards. No air conditioning (in East LA where it can be very warm.) 

I think that everyone who learns about him forms a different answer to that question.

In my opinion, it boils down to giving those kids four consistent messages:

1. I care about this subject.
2. I care about you.
3. I believe in you.
4. I'm holding you accountable.

By the way, the film (linked above in the pic) oversimplifies Escalante's story. His success involved much more hard work than could be portrayed in a film, including battling administrators and other teachers who rejected his vision and/or his methodology. If you're interested in the details, read this article... It seems that the most important message (above) that they fought him on was #3 above - these other educators told him some kids are not cut out for or prepared for advanced math, so don't set the bar so high. But he believed in teenagers so much that his Math Enrichment program was anyone who desired to join - if they needed extra tutoring, he got them the tutoring. That simple. (At its peak, Garfield High was graduating more AP Math students than Beverly Hills 90210.)

It seems to me that this message is exactly what Rosh Hashanah is all about. It's about listening to the shofar to remind us that Someone is trying to tell us:

I care about this subject.
I care about you.
I believe in you.
I'm holding you accountable.

Question for your table: If you could pick one subject or skill to master in the coming year, and you knew that you could master it if you worked at it, which subject or skill would you choose?


Shabbat Shalom

and

A sweet, healthy, happy, meaningful year to you and yours!! L'shanah tovah.


PS - Rosh Hashanah is a traditional time to increase our tzedakah. If you appreciate this weekly message and would like to support this blog and our educational programs, send in a donation and we'll thank you with our 26 Questions to Think About From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur...

- For Paypal or Credit or Debit Card donation (one time, or make it monthly) click here.
- Venmo, Zelle, etc. click here for info.
- Give through your local Federation - JSLI is registered in San Franciso, San Diego and Baltimore.
- Give through Schwab Charitable - they have our address.
- Use https://smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate a % of the sale to the non-profit of your choice (such as Jewish Spiritual Literacy), at no extra cost to you. Why not? 
 
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What Matters More, Location or Direction?

The purpose of this blog is a Shabbat table with a direction... Please share...

 

I'm sitting over here, you're sitting over there.

I'm writing you, you're reading me.

In a few seconds, I'll stop writing, in a few seconds you'll stop reading.

Will we then part ways?

I raise a child, the child is raised by me.

In a few years, I'll stop raising, in a few years she'll stop being raised.

Will we then part ways?

Through her I hope I will become a grandparent, then a great-grandparent, and maybe if all goes well a great-great-grandparent.

Will those grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren ever cease to be my grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren?

I'm writing a book that I hope no one will read 100 years from now because no one will need to.

I'm building an organization that I hope will not exist 100 years from now because no one will need it.

I'm raising children — my own and others' (through education) — who I hope will still be here 100 years from now.

I'm getting in the mood for Rosh Hashanah. Every other day of the year I work hard to live within my location. I'm getting ready to contemplate for a day or two the trajectory of my life.

Question for your table: What's more important, living a happy life or living a meaningful life?


Shabbat Shalom


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King Without a Crown?

The purpose of this blog is to coronate the Shabbat table... Please share...

The last time I wrote about Elizabeth, I compared her to Pharaoh.

Rosh Hashanah is coming. This is my big chance to repent.

I don't know whether or not Prince King Charles was in shul last Shabbos, but I hope for his sake that he was.

(It's actually quite hard to say "King Charles," isn't it? So let's try to get used to it.) 

If for some reason he was in shul, then he would have heard the Torah reading that outlines the ethical guidelines of a righteous king.

• Don't have too many wives - check.
• Don't have too many horses - check.
• Don't have too much money - check? (What's "too much money" these days? Compared to J.K. Rawling and Sir Paul, Elizabeth died practically a pauper.)

And had Elizabeth spent her last Shabbos in shul with him, she might have been given pause by the words of the Haftarah, where Yeshiyah (Isaiah) is un-awed by royalty: Why should you be afraid of a man who will die, or of a human over whom grass will grow?

Verily, this is an historic moment, and I suggest we strive to fulfill the words of Ben Zoma:

Who is wise? One who learns from everyone (Pirkei Avos 4:1).

It seems to me the most remarkable fact about Elizabeth II is that despite her seventy years on the throne, she seems to have died without any enemies.

How many politicians of any stripe ever achieved anything comparable, in any country, at any time in history?

First question for your table: Would the lack of enemies be a sign of virtue?

Yet, one is reminded of Churchill's quip, "So you've made some enemies? Good, that means you've stood for something."

Second question for your table: Per Churchill, would this imply that Elizabeth never stood for anything?


Shabbat Shalom


PS -There are 2 hidden links up there - can you find them?

PPS - Shopping on Amazon? Please use https://smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate a % of the sale to the non-profit of your choice (such as Jewish Spiritual Literacy), at no extra cost to you. Why not? 
 
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Born or Made?

The purpose of this blog is to stimulate some ingenuity at the Shabbat table... Please share...
In honor of everyone going back to school this week or next week. Wishing you a successful year!

Did you ever hear of Judit Polgár? How about her sisters Zsuzsa (Susan) and Zsôfia (Sofia)?

How did these three become chess Grandmasters as teenagers? 

Good genes, obviously. Right?

Apparently not.

The real story is their father László and mother Klara.

In his 20s, László wanted to get married and decided to prepare himself for fatherhood by studying biographies of great intellectuals, from Socrates to Einstein. He concluded that the right approach could produce a genius in any healthy child. "A genius is not born but is educated and trained….When a child is born healthy, it is a potential genius." When he courted Klara, he made the marriage conditional on her full partnership in this experiment.

A summary of their method that produced three geniuses can be read online here. Unfortunately, his book is out of print and unavailable, but there are several spin-offs, such as this, this and this. (Disclaimer, I haven't personally read these.)

But before you go there, try this question at your table: If you knew it to be true that a genius is raised and not born, would that knowledge impact the way you raise your own kids or grandkids?

And what are the implications for Jewish education?


Shabbat Shalom


PS - Shopping on Amazon? Please use https://smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate a % of the sale to the non-profit of your choice (such as Jewish Spiritual Literacy), at no extra cost to you. Why not? 
 
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