Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
June 28-20, 2024 • 23 Sivan 5784 • Shelach (Num 13-15).
The goal of this blog is a memorable Shabbat table ... please share.
In honor of my grandparents' yahrzeits last week (and senior citizenship being in the news this week), perhaps it's time to retell a favorite story about each of my paternal grandparents.
Here are two anecdotes that inspired me and that I hope will inspire you and your table.
First, grandma. We called her Gigi. She had this small, well-appointed writing desk that she used for letter-writing and newspaper clipping.
The letters and clippings went hand-in-hand.
You see, there were three reasons Gigi would write a letter:
- To say Thank You
- To say Happy Birthday
- To share a newspaper clipping of interest.
She was so meticulous about the first two that she always had a checklist of people she needed to write to or send birthday greetings to.
But the third item - sending newspaper clippings - was just her way of saying, "Thinking of you!"
It's such a kind and loving action that takes a bit of time, but not too much, and so easy to emulate now that our news is digitized.
Perhaps that's the ultimate use of the Share button - not to spam your network or friends or family with the clipping, rather to share it with one person only, just to say, "Thinking of you!"
The anecdote about my grandfather, whom we called Pop, occurred about a month before I began college.
They came by for a random Sunday visit as they often did, and Pop cornered me to give me some grandfatherly wisdom, as he often did.
"I have one word of advice for you before you go to college."
"One word?"
"One word."
(I felt like my life had become a movie. This was momentous, a scene that I'd be able to tell my own children about!)
"Don't take courses in college."
<BIG PAUSE>
(Umm... are we having a senior moment Pop, or is there going to be a punchline?)
He looks me in the eye with a smile: "Take teachers. With an interesting subject but a lousy teacher, you won't learn anything. But even with a boring subject but an excellent teacher, you'll learn everything."
He was, of course, 100 percent right. Whenever I followed his advice, I learned everything, and when I didn't (or couldn't), I learned very little.
In my experience, this wisdom applies to any subject, including Torah.
Pop was born 113 years ago, the son of immigrants from Galicia. Many life experiences fueled a natural wisdom that the Torah says everyone achieves by age 70. But some seem more able to articulate it than others.
Question for your table - When a child goes off to college, they are for sure going to encounter articulate, persuasive teachers whose moral alignment is let's say "different" from the parents. Why are some young people more impressionable and vulnerable to such influence than others?
Shabbat Shalom
Here are two anecdotes that inspired me and that I hope will inspire you and your table.
First, grandma. We called her Gigi. She had this small, well-appointed writing desk that she used for letter-writing and newspaper clipping.
The letters and clippings went hand-in-hand.
You see, there were three reasons Gigi would write a letter:
- To say Thank You
- To say Happy Birthday
- To share a newspaper clipping of interest.
She was so meticulous about the first two that she always had a checklist of people she needed to write to or send birthday greetings to.
But the third item - sending newspaper clippings - was just her way of saying, "Thinking of you!"
It's such a kind and loving action that takes a bit of time, but not too much, and so easy to emulate now that our news is digitized.
Perhaps that's the ultimate use of the Share button - not to spam your network or friends or family with the clipping, rather to share it with one person only, just to say, "Thinking of you!"
The anecdote about my grandfather, whom we called Pop, occurred about a month before I began college.
They came by for a random Sunday visit as they often did, and Pop cornered me to give me some grandfatherly wisdom, as he often did.
"I have one word of advice for you before you go to college."
"One word?"
"One word."
(I felt like my life had become a movie. This was momentous, a scene that I'd be able to tell my own children about!)
"Don't take courses in college."
<BIG PAUSE>
(Umm... are we having a senior moment Pop, or is there going to be a punchline?)
He looks me in the eye with a smile: "Take teachers. With an interesting subject but a lousy teacher, you won't learn anything. But even with a boring subject but an excellent teacher, you'll learn everything."
He was, of course, 100 percent right. Whenever I followed his advice, I learned everything, and when I didn't (or couldn't), I learned very little.
In my experience, this wisdom applies to any subject, including Torah.
Pop was born 113 years ago, the son of immigrants from Galicia. Many life experiences fueled a natural wisdom that the Torah says everyone achieves by age 70. But some seem more able to articulate it than others.
Question for your table - When a child goes off to college, they are for sure going to encounter articulate, persuasive teachers whose moral alignment is let's say "different" from the parents. Why are some young people more impressionable and vulnerable to such influence than others?
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Want to know how you can improve your mind and memory and slow or even stop cognitive decline? Click the image above and get that book.
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