Just Gotta Believe?

 

	Table Talk • The Art of Amazement Blog	Jan 27, 2023 • 5 Shevat 5783 Parshat Bo (Exod 10-13)
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	From the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld PhD Templating Table Talk Shalom, shalom, shalom. After 15+ years of writing this Friday blog in mostly text format, I thought I'd take a shot at a fresh look. Please tell me how this looks on your device - should I stick with it or revert to the old? The purpose of this blog is to raise self-esteem at the Shabbat table. Please print and share. Just Gotta Believe? Let's begin this week with a highly personal question for your table: What's something that you would love to be able to do but don't believe you are capable of doing, perhaps not in the short term or perhaps even in the long term? History has billions of people like you who never even tried to achieve their dream because they were convinced that they were simply incapable.  And then there are the rare individuals who tried anyway, because they didn't realize they weren't supposed to be incapable. For example, you've probably never heard of George Dantzig. Dantzig had earned an MA in mathematics but his interest shifted to statistics. So he enrolled in the Stats PhD program at UC Berkeley. The year was 1939. On one ordinary day, Dantzig arrived a few minutes late to Professor Jerzy Neyman’s statistics lecture. Neyman was probably the world's most famous statistician at the time. Dantzig saw several homework problems on the board and dutifully wrote them down. He found the first ones fairly straightforward, but the last two really put him through the ringer and he spent many days working on them. Here's Dantzig's account of what happened next: A few days later I apologized to Neyman for taking so long to do the homework — the problems seemed to be a little harder than usual. I asked him if he still wanted it. He told me to throw it on his desk. I did so reluctantly because his desk was covered with such a heap of papers that I feared my homework would be lost there forever. About six weeks later, one Sunday morning about eight o’clock, we were awakened by someone banging on our front door. It was Neyman. He rushed in with papers in hand, all excited: “I’ve just written an introduction to one of your papers. Read it so I can send it out right away for publication.” For a minute I had no idea what he was talking about. To make a long story short, the problems on the blackboard that I had solved thinking they were homework were in fact two famous unsolved problems in statistics. After hearing that story, it will come as no surprise that Dantzig went on to a celebrated career in statistics, making major contributions to the field and arguably deserving a Nobel Prize. It reminds one of when 63-year-old Laura Shultz lifted a 2,000-pound car to save her grandson. But she wasn't proud, she was despondent. She said, “If I was able to do this when I didn’t think I could, what does that say about the rest of my life? Have I wasted it?” Final question for your table: What's something that you would love to be able to do and suspect that you might be capable of doing? Shabbat Shalom  Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it.... See our Purim countdown clock at the JSLI homepage.... If you'd like to join a special Torah Health and Fitness mailing list for updates on the forthcoming book, podcasts and othe revents, please visit the Torah Health and Fitness landing page.