The purpose of this email is to achieve new vistas at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
The count-up continues, one more day....
As you can see in this screenshot, my graphics software has two ways to convert a color image into black-and-white:
- 8-bit grayscale
- 16-bit grayscale
And of course the burning question in your mind is what is the difference between 8- and 16-bit grayscale?
According to Google's top-hit, it's a big difference:
8-bit grayscale = 2^8 shades of gray (i.e., 256)
16-bit grayscale = 2^16 shades of gray (i.e, 65,536)
This is an apt metaphor for Torah and answers another question that came up several times this week, which you might want to try at your Shabbat table.
Someone asked me, Why is Shavuot such an little-celebrated holiday?
There are probably many good answers to the question that people at your table will come up with, including the most obvious - if someone did not grow up celebrating it, they are not likely to start later in life.
But it seems to me that there is a much deeper answer that could and should speak to every one of us, whether you are someone who does not usually celebrate Shavuot or even if you do.
Three blocks from us there is an assisted living house with an ever-rotating group of seniors at various levels of health. One of the most lucid and loquatious residents is a centegenarian named Mr. Wolf who landed at D-Day.
As a recent 22-year-old immigrant from Czechoslavakia, he was not drafted, he enlisted. His parents discouraged him, but he insisted: "If I don't go fight those guys, I could never live with myself."
Because he spoke German, he was routinely sent out beyond the front line as a scout. He captured many prisoners before he was wounded in action.
Question for your table: Why was there almost no pacificism in America during WWII?
In my opinion, because our enemies were so clearly evil.
How often do we have a national issue that is so clearly black-and-white?
The epitome of this problem is the abortion debate. It's either 100 percent (a) right or 100 percent wrong. Where's the gray?
The problem with gray is that it requires you to do what Tom Edison rued as the hardest thing in the world. He had posted in his workshop:
A MAN WILL RESORT TO ALMOST ANY EXPEDIENT TO AVOID THE REAL LABOR OF THINKING.
Another American Tom - Mr. Jefferson - had this to say about thinking:
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO HAVE NO IDEAS THAN FALSE ONES; TO BELIEVE NOTHING, THAN TO BELIEVE WHAT IS WRONG.
That's Shavuot in a nutshell. It is a celebration - an appreciation - of:
- Membership in the Tribe of the Book - a people whose very word for education - chinuch - means "preparation" - because your entire life should be one of constant learning, and if you're not learning, why are you living?
- Having this great wisdom that gave the world all the major concepts of good and evil that we embrace today.
If you still have lingering doubts, you might enjoy my Galactic Torah article from a few years back.
Shabbat Shalom
and
Chag Sameach
PS - Yes, the image above is clickable, as ususal.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, forward it....
The count-up continues, one more day....
As you can see in this screenshot, my graphics software has two ways to convert a color image into black-and-white:- 8-bit grayscale
- 16-bit grayscale
And of course the burning question in your mind is what is the difference between 8- and 16-bit grayscale?
According to Google's top-hit, it's a big difference:
8-bit grayscale = 2^8 shades of gray (i.e., 256)
16-bit grayscale = 2^16 shades of gray (i.e, 65,536)
This is an apt metaphor for Torah and answers another question that came up several times this week, which you might want to try at your Shabbat table.
Someone asked me, Why is Shavuot such an little-celebrated holiday?
There are probably many good answers to the question that people at your table will come up with, including the most obvious - if someone did not grow up celebrating it, they are not likely to start later in life.
But it seems to me that there is a much deeper answer that could and should speak to every one of us, whether you are someone who does not usually celebrate Shavuot or even if you do.
Three blocks from us there is an assisted living house with an ever-rotating group of seniors at various levels of health. One of the most lucid and loquatious residents is a centegenarian named Mr. Wolf who landed at D-Day.
As a recent 22-year-old immigrant from Czechoslavakia, he was not drafted, he enlisted. His parents discouraged him, but he insisted: "If I don't go fight those guys, I could never live with myself."
Because he spoke German, he was routinely sent out beyond the front line as a scout. He captured many prisoners before he was wounded in action.
Question for your table: Why was there almost no pacificism in America during WWII?
In my opinion, because our enemies were so clearly evil.
How often do we have a national issue that is so clearly black-and-white?
The epitome of this problem is the abortion debate. It's either 100 percent (a) right or 100 percent wrong. Where's the gray?
The problem with gray is that it requires you to do what Tom Edison rued as the hardest thing in the world. He had posted in his workshop:
A MAN WILL RESORT TO ALMOST ANY EXPEDIENT TO AVOID THE REAL LABOR OF THINKING.
Another American Tom - Mr. Jefferson - had this to say about thinking:
IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO HAVE NO IDEAS THAN FALSE ONES; TO BELIEVE NOTHING, THAN TO BELIEVE WHAT IS WRONG.
That's Shavuot in a nutshell. It is a celebration - an appreciation - of:
- Membership in the Tribe of the Book - a people whose very word for education - chinuch - means "preparation" - because your entire life should be one of constant learning, and if you're not learning, why are you living?
- Having this great wisdom that gave the world all the major concepts of good and evil that we embrace today.
If you still have lingering doubts, you might enjoy my Galactic Torah article from a few years back.
Shabbat Shalom
and
Chag Sameach
PS - Yes, the image above is clickable, as ususal.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, forward it....
No comments:
Post a Comment