I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew

The purpose of this blog is to Jew-up the Friday night dinner table. Please print, share, forward, etc.

Last week, our table-talk question was, Why did the Chafetz Chaim annotate the flyer?

If we could go back in time and ask him that question, I imagine he might say, 

"Because I'm a Jew."

Meaning, honesty is Jewish. If you're a Jew and conscious of what that means, you strive to be honest.

The Talmud famously says (in the name of Rava), when a person dies and goes to the next world, they're asked a series of questions about how they lived in this world.

Rava lists 5 specific questions.

Question for your table: What's the number-one question?

Let them mull that over for a few minutes. 

Top guesses? "Did you believe in God?" "Did you give 10 percent of your income to tzedakah?" "Did you love your neighbor?" "Did you make Shabbat holy?" "Did you avoid lashon hara?"

Those are all great mitzvahs. But they're not Rava's numero uno.

#1 question: "Were you 100% honest in everything to do with money?"

That's the number one topic for a Jew in this world.

Second question for your table: Is this a particularly good, particularly difficult, or historically average time to be a Jew?

Before you answer, consider that Jews are still frequently attacked for being Jewish, even this week in the USA.

Consider that we have an antisemitic member of Congress.

Consider that we had the self-inflicted Lag BaOmer 45.

Consider that we had the unexplained Surfside collapse (with many Jewish victims).

But also consider these quintessential Jewish angels.

Here's a takeaway from that last link:

The reporter asked local resident Steve Eisenberg, "How did you get involved in the recovery efforts?"

Eisenberg: "I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew."

Question for your table: What did he mean by that?


Shabbat Shalom

PS: Please help the victims:
https://jewishbroward.org/surfsideemergencyrelieffund/
https://supportsurfside.org/

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