Just Gotta Believe?

 

	Table Talk • The Art of Amazement Blog	Jan 27, 2023 • 5 Shevat 5783 Parshat Bo (Exod 10-13)
		The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm-shift in spiritual and moral education in general, including but not limited to Jewish education, towards an experiential pedagogy that transforms students with its spiritual vision and relevance to their daily lives. We envision a future when every human being can access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom. JSLI homepage   Good news - the Torah Health and Fitness book has passed the final editorial gate. Do you want to be the first to know when it's available? See the link below.
	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.

Are the Kids Alright?

 The purpose of this blog is to uplift kids of all ages at the Shabbat table... please share...

The "emergency intervention" that I mentioned in my previous email about Prince Harry involved a new teacher who had been hired to take over a class.

One, he had zero training or experience; two, he was the third teacher in that classroom this year. Talk about setting someone up to fail!!!

I received the phone call Thursday afternoon. I was told that it was a true emergency - he was ready to quit, and had told his boss he'd give me one shot at trying to help.

Fortunately, the class was relatively small and a very nice group of students - disrupters, yes; ADD, yes; but nothing malicious.

I observed him for an hour, followed by a mentoring session.

For your table - a question - put yourself in my shoes and see if you can conjure up an image: What makes a great teacher? Are there any universals?

Not long ago, one of my children said, "So-and-so is the best teacher I ever had.”

"Wow, that's a big statement! What makes her such a good teacher? What does she do?"

Without hesitation, she gave me a whole list:

• She explains things and repeats them
• She likes class discussions
• She knows how to get the class back together
• She’s quick to say “my bad” and apologize
• She’s funny, she laughs with us and jokes with us
• She tells us stories
• She does a lot of partners
• She makes girls feel liked.

She had other teachers who had some of these qualities, but most of them were:

• Quick to anger and/or
• Horribly boring

Second question for your table - Do you agree with my daughter's criteria? Did she leave anything out?

Third question: Do these criteria (assuming you agree with most or all of them) apply to other professions as well?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - In case you were wondering, the intervention was a success! He's implementing my suggestions consistently and the entire class has been transformed for the better.

PPS - If you are new to this space, you may not know that without spending a penny you can support this weekly email and our other worthy programs by using Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com) when you you shop - Amazon will donate a % of your purchase to the charity of your choice. Please choose Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc (home page).

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, tweet it, forward it....{VR_SOCIAL_SHARING}

Harry Got Sacked?

The purpose of this blog is to launch the new week with a bit of wisdom... please print and share...

 

Shavua tov.

I apologize for not getting this out on Friday. Unexpected emergency intervention at a local school that I was asked to attend to. Maybe I'll blog about that in the near future.
 

Harry must have an absolutely brilliant publicist. He is constantly in the news and his brand just keeps getting bigger and bolder.

I haven't read his biography yet, but I did discover someone who excerpted an intesting part that I'd like to share with you, so you can share it with everyone at your table (OK, so it isn't Shabbat anymore, maybe you can make it a post-Shabbat Melaveh Malka.)

It's well known that Harry dressed up as a Nazi for a costume party.

To his credit, he now calls it "one of the biggest mistakes of my life."

It is also well known that he met with British Chief Rabbi Sacks afterwards.

What is new is what he says in his new book about that meeting....
 

Father sent me to a holy man. 51 years old. Bearded, bespectacled, with a face with deep wrinkles and dark, intelligent eyes.... He was Britain's chief rabbi, that's all I was told. But I immediately saw that he was much more. A distinguished scholar, a religious philosopher, a prolific writer with more than two dozen books to his name, he spent many of his days staring out of windows and pondering the root causes of sorrow, evil, and hatred.

He didn't mince words. He condemned my actions. It's not that he was unkind, but it had to be done. He also put my stupidity in a historical context. He talked about the six million, the people who were destroyed. Jews, Poles, dissidents, intellectuals, children, babies, Old men who turned to ash and smoke a few short decades ago.

I arrived at his house full of shame, but afterwards I felt something else, bottomless self-loathing. But that was not the rabbi's goal. It was certainly not how he wanted me to leave him.

He urged me not to be devastated by my mistake, but to be motivated. He assured me that people do stupid things, say stupid things, but that should not be their inner nature. He said I showed that my true nature when I asked to atone for the act and I'm looking for forgiveness. He gave me grace. He's a really wise man. He told me to raise my head, get out, and use this experience to make the world better.

Question for your table: What does this passage do for your image of Harry? Of Rabbi Sacks?


Shavua tov! Have a great week.

 

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, tweet it, forward it....

Just Seventeen?

The purpose of this blog is to count to seventeen at the Shabbat table... please print and share..

Thanks for the random funny comments to last week's message about clowns.

That was mostly for children, I suppose. Anyone in their first seventeen years of life are particularly vulnerable, right?

What about the last seventeen years of their life?

We obviously don't know when we're in the last seventeen, but we can guess, right?

The cliché question is, What would you do if you knew you only had one year to live.

I have no problem with that question but I don't think it fully captures the intent. The intent is to get us to focus on what matters most in life.

The problem I have with the "only one year" question is that no one who doesn't have a terminal illness actually lives that way. We all have plans – even vague ones – beyond a year. 

But it seems to me that the other extreme - not contemplating your mortality at all - is equally unwise, for it doesn't focus us enough on what matters most.

So my suggestion is you try this one at your table tonight: What would you do if you knew you had exactly seventeen years to live?

What would you want to do? To build or tear down? To see? To learn? To master?

Someone told me this week that he feels like he spends a lot of his time dabbling or puttering and not really building himself.

It's a common problem. Sometimes, sadly, the lack of focus continues for years until... it's too late.

It seems to me that there are two things that can solve it and put us on the path toward greatness:

1. The Jewish teaching: They say you can't take it with you, but there are two things that you can take with you - the wisdom that you achieved and the pleasure of all the good deeds that you performed.

2. The question: What would you do if you knew you had exactly seventeen years to live? Serious question - what would you do?


Shabbat Shalom

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, tweet it, forward it....{VR_SOCIAL_SHARING}
As always, this message can be read online at http://rabbiseinfeld.blogspot.com