Sitting's Over, Time to Stand?

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

October 13-14, 2023 • 28-29 Tishrei 5784 • Bereishis (Gen 1-6). 

The purpose of this email is to turn sitting into standing... please forward/print/share.
Happy birthday shout-out to my dear Mother... may you have another year of many blessings!

Last week we were still sitting in the sukkah and I asked, "Is life too complicated?"

None of us imagined how complicated it could get.

So this week, we stand up and be counted.

Stand and be counted means one thing if you are living in the Land of Israel right now.

First question for your table: What does it mean if you're not living in Israel right now?

In my opinion, the rest of us should be doing at least one (preferably all) of three things:

1. Communicate

Everyone you know who lives in Israel and everyone you know who knows someone who lives in Israel - send them an email or text:

"It must be extremely stressful - if you have the wherewithal, please let me know how you guys are doing. But if you don't, no worries, just know that you are in my thoughts and prayers."

Even if you're not the sort who prays, say it anyway. They need to hear it. It means a lot to them. (If you want to be a fully truthful person, so utter a prayer already, what could it hurt?)

But don't assume that they know how you feel. Their fear is real. They need to hear from us.

2. Give
 

https://donate.meirpanim.org/2023-emergency-campaign/

https://causematch.com/helpisrael 

https://chesedtoday.com/soldiers/

 

3. Take it personally

The Simchat Torah War is existential for Israelis but is also a war against the entire Jewish People and indeed the entire world. It started thousands of years ago. They hate you because you're Jewish. If you are fortunate, you and your immediate family were spared this time. 

Therefore, it's a wake-up call to increase our Jewish connection. How about committing - starting right now - to 5 minutes a day of increased Judaism? That could be something as simple as learning Torah or Jewish wisdom for 5 minutes a day. Join an online class. Read an article online. Listen to Torah audio. Get a meaningful book and read it for 5 minutes a day.

The teeter-totter of history

There are two threads that link you and me to our grandparents and great-grandparents, all the way back: These three pillars (Torah / kindness / prayer) and anti-Semitism. The Talmud predicts that history will be like a see-saw - when these three pillars are up, anti-Semitism will go down, and when these three pillars go down, anti-Semitism will go up. 

Those on the front lines are doing what they need to do. The rest of us also have work to do. We're all in this together.

Let's end as usual with a question for your table: 

What's a bigger surprise to you - that human beings could be capable of such evil, or that they could get away with it?


Wishing you and all of Israel a Shabbat Shalom,


Alexander Seinfeld

PS - In response to people asking me for suggested prayers to say I have prepared a small packet (PDF) - let me know if you'd like a copy.

 

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual and moral education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

Reality... What a Concept!

The purpose of this blog is to reboot the Shabbat table... Please share...

Do you know how many days til Channukah?

As I mentioned last week, we are just now wrapping up Sukkot and the Holidays.

Real life can now begin again.

But what is "real life"?

To nurture this topic, for your table tonight, I would like to offer:

(a) A radical idea about reality
(b) A realistic fact about reality
(c) A question about reality

The radical idea about reality is that contemplating even a single wonder of nature is one of the fundamentals of cultivating spirituality and therefore we should strive to make such contemplation part of our daily routine. But not to make it "routine" - it must be juicy — an experience of radical amazement. 

For example, once a day try pausing to appreciate the incredible human body.

Or the wonders of a single cell. Or the miracle of DNA (or this). Or Einstein's Big Idea. Or quantum entanglement. Or...?

But here's the realistic fact about reality which you already know: not everyone gets turned on by the same WOW. 

For example, this week I took a few kids to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

I personally had one goal: experience the eye-popping wonders of Geology, Gems and Minerals. 

But guess what — to get to Geology you first have to walk through Oceanea and dodge Mammals, etc. etc. Trying to get even three people to follow the leader in a place like that is like taking a child through a candy store. My WOW may not be the same as your WOW.

For example, I know one person who LOVES the daily download from the JWST (click on the image above for a full-screen WOW) and I know another person who finds these photos rather dull....

Question for your table: What's your WOW?

And all this amazement leads to the promised question about reality... What about inward contemplation? 

On this topic, you may have heard about the Baltimore-based organization called the Holistic Life Foundation that has been successfully lowering rates of violence, truancy and general mischief in public schools by replacing detention with meditation.

Into a room of pillows and lavender, an elementary school student walks, enraged.

He’s just been made fun of by another student, an altercation that turned to pushing and name-calling. But rather than detention or the principal’s office, his teacher sent him here, to Robert W. Coleman Elementary School’s meditation room.

“I did some deep breathing, had a little snack, and I got myself together,” the boy recalled. “Then I apologized to my class.”

Let's lob this one to the table - What would be a more pertinent daily practice: contemplating a wonder of nature, or cultivating serenity?


Shabbat Shalom

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Why on Earth Are You Here-o?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this blog is to make the Shabbat Table epic. Please print and share.

Dedicated to the memory of Yermiyahu Matan (Jeremy Dossetter) - whose yahrzeit was this week (please remember him here);

Happy birthday shout-out to his dear mother Susan;
and Mazal tov to Yaakov Felson on becoming bar mitzvah. 

Announcement: To become a partner in the publication of groundbreaking new book, Body and Soul: A Torah Guide to Health, Fitness, and Longevity, Medically-Annotated, it is now possible to contribute a dedication in someone's honor or memory to be printed in the book, please send an email to dedications@jsli.org for instructions and may the merit of your contribution uplift them and the Jewish People and the world. Eight years in the making, this collaboration of Torah scholars, doctors and dietitians will, we hope, change the way we relate to our bodies and to food.

Try starting off the conversation with this couplet:

Who's your hero?
Whose hero are you?

I wonder how many people think about such questions. Or about this week's title question....

Why in the world are we here?
Surely not to live in pain and fear....

The question is arguably the fundamental problem driving the entire Torah.

It seems to me the Torah's answer to that question is: You're here to be a hero.

Like all great heroes, you only become a hero through trial and tribulation.

Of course, the tests often come when we're least expecting them. The surprise too is part of the test.

So here is a true story that happened to my friend the other day.

He was filling up at a service station near the highway. Two women approached him and told him that they were en route to the airport, but the person driving them had ditched them while they were using the ladies' room. He had driven off with their luggage. 

For your table: Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do?

Less dramatic versions of this encounter happen every day: a panhandler at the red light; a spouse asking for help; a child whining; a parent lecturing; any of the above nagging....

I'm guessing everyone at the table can come up with many better examples.

If you find yourself resisting playing the hero, just wanting to be left alone and not get involved, it's a sure sign you're being tested.

What about a test of your patience? Is that also a test of your heroism?

What about when you make a mistake and someone calls you on it - is that also a call to heroism?

Now we can bring it full circle:

Who's your hero?
Whose hero are you?


Shabbat Shalom


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How to Fly High

The purpose of this blog is to raise spirits at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
In memory of  Jeremy Dossetter (Yermiyahu Matan), zichrono livracha, whose first yahrzeit is observed tonight and tomorrow.


Now that the holidays are officially over, is it back to business-as-usual, or has something changed?

The other night, my driver-in-training daughter and I are out for a spin, trying to get her to her 60 hours.

We decide to make our destination a local drugstore.

There's always something you need at a drugstore.

No lines - looks like we were the only customers.

Now, if we could just avoid the employees, we'd have it made....

So we arrive at the checkout with our items. The employee on duty is a young woman.

As we are stepping up to the counter, this employee is tearing open a package of cookies. As I am reaching to place my items on the counter, she quickly rips two or three cookies from the package and stuffs them all in her mouth at once.

This does not occur while her back is turned to us, nor her side.

She is facing us and is not even three feet away.

Now, this account could remain a tale of mere manners and professionalism.

But it gets worse.

Maybe I should keep my mouth shut, but I feel like I should say something.

So as lighthearted and friendly as possible, with a smile, I say, "You know, those aren't very healthy."

Her answer (once she finishes swallowing, give her credit for that): "I know, but, hey, you gotta die sometime, so who cares if it's a little sooner rather than later."

She has stunned us into silence.

Back in the car, my daughter has a comment.

First question for your table: What would you guess she says?

(She said she was sad for this woman who evidently felt that she had very little to live for.)

Second question: What would you have said (if anything)?

Third question: Is this woman to be praised for 'living in the moment'?

As noted above, tonight is the first yahrzeit of our beloved student and friend Jeremy, whose helicopter went down off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii.

Jeremy exemplified both living in the moment and living with a sense of purpose. He would have been the last person to knowingly endanger his life because he loved life and had big meaningful goals.

I believe he saw this world as both a beautiful artwork and a blank canvas on which to paint the work of art called "My Life".

The best way we can honor him is to be inspired by him. May his memory be for a blessing.

Speaking of Jeremy and painting, here's a final question for your table.

This is the kind of philosophical question he enjoyed discussing when we studied Torah together via Skype.

Imagine a painter makes a picture of a natural scene, with trees and people and so on.

5 minutes after the he completes the painting, you and I look at that person in the picture. I ask you, “How old would you say that man is in the painting?”

 

You scrutinize it and decide that he looks like he’s 50 years old.

 

“Wrong! He’s only 5 minutes old!”

 

Who’s right?

Shabbat Shalom

PS - The image above was Jeremy's Skype image, a self-portrait I believe, and yes it is clickable.

 

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Begin Again Now

The purpose of this blog is to help you turn your Shabbat table into an vibrant salon. Please share.
In honor of my dear Mother's birthday - Happy Birthday Mom!
(To dedicate a future TT, send an email.)


For a conversation-starter, try showing this photo around the table and ask everyone what they think it depicts:



(If you cannot view the photo in this email, click here.)

Hint: The snap shows a street at Foxconn, the Shenzhen (China) factory that makes our iphones, ipads, ipods and many other gadgets.

So what are those nets for?

They were installed in 2010 in response to the high rate of suicide at the factory that year.

That's the screaming headline.

In fact, even at the peak of its problem, Foxconn (which employs a mind-boggling 400,000 people in Shenzhen) had a lower suicide rate than the national China average.

But I'm re-hashing this topic because it makes an interesting conversation starter and an opener to the bigger question of the week:

What is wrong with suicide?

I'm sorry if that sounds morbid, but it's really a question about life and meaning, and purpose. So now that the High Holidays have passed and Jewish life is "back to normal", I'm challenging you to ask this at your table: Why shouldn't suicide be a moral and legal option?

I hope that the discussion will lead to an affirmation of the value of life, and perhaps greater scrutiny of what makes life itself precious.

Shabbat Shalom


PS -  If you haven't already, please download our (corrected) fall bulletin here.
PPS - This week's title is borrowed from a terrific book by Rabbi Pliskin well worth your time.