As Fast as You Can

The purpose of this blog is to bring zerizut to the Shabbat table. Please forward / like / tweet or just print and share.
In memory of R' Shlomo Gardner who passed away last week.

If you take your five thousand steps
the way I did the other day 
in a five-kay race,
and you move those legs
as fast as you can,

You will start in a run
and then shift down to a jog
and then slow to a trot
and you will ask yourself,
"Is this really, truly
as fast as I can?"

Up and up, bend after bend, then
enjoy the long descent
until you realize you've only gone halfway
and now need to do it all again, always
as fast as you can;

And by that second up and up, bend after bend
if you are like me you start to wonder
whyfore are you here
when you could be weeding the garden
or plucking your eyebrows —
anything would be more fun than running in the sun
as fast as you can.

"Isn't it for a good cause? What's the charity again?"
No room for noble rumination
when a tortured body needs full concentration
to reach that finish line
as fast as it can.

Pale youths politely pull ahead (as they should)
but then a bearded old guy in a suit and tie passes you by —
Why the schtick? What's on his sign?
"It doesn't matter how fast you run; it does matter how slowly you eat."
Thanks, Rabbi. Is that a dispensation not to run
as fast as I can?

Your kids are going to wonder
why you pushed yourself so hard
and you merely need explain,
"it was a race," which of course means you go
as fast as you can.

The fitness folks today are on the same page,
distance and duration are on the out and out
but short sprints are on the up and up
and what gets you round the ageing bend
is of course to run (or walk or swim)
as fast as you can.

To the rabbis who didn't run
because "one man's torture is another man's pleasure":
You say good health is a gift
but isn't taking care of your health a mitzvah
rewarded measure-for-measure,
as best as you can?

If you run like this rabbi
then a 5K is the same
as going to work
as loving a wife
as raising a kid
as controlling a temper
as avoiding a temptation
as being happy
when you ask every day
(I do hope you ask),Am I just trotting through life
or am I doing
the best that I can?

Question for your table: Does the effort bring the reward, or does the reward cause the effort?


Shabbat Shalom

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

Do you deserve an "A" for effort?

The goal of this blog is to help your Friday night dinner conversation exceed expectations. Please print and share.

Imagine you hired a contractor who not only did what he promised, he went above and beyond what he had agreed to do.

Would you notice? Would you care very much?

Every happen?

Psychologists Ayelet Gneezy (U.C. San Diego) and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago) were wondering how much payoff there is for exceeding a promise.

According to their study, “when companies, friends, or coworkers put forth the effort to keep a promise, their effort is likely to be rewarded. But when they expend extra effort in order to exceed those promises, their effort appears likely to be overlooked.”

Put bluntly: Nobody cares you went the extra mile.

For the sake of discussion, let's assume their research is valid.

If so, here's the obvious question for your table:

Let's think of the many areas we make promises and commitments: marriage, children, parents, jobs, etc.

If exceeding a promise or commitment is likely to be overlooked, is there any reason to do so?

Think about it.

Shabbat Shalom


PS - Not too late to stock up on summer-vacation books and toys for kids AND parents....

PPS - The "effort" star image above is a sticker you can get here.

What's the Opposite of Pain?

Happy Birthday to Rick! Wishing you health and blessings "ad me'ah v'esrim" - until 120!

Did you ever see LeBron James play?

Who would LeBron James rather play one-on-one —

Kobe Bryant or…

Alexander Seinfeld?

Why would he obviously want to play Kobe? Won’t he beat me so much more easily?

It’s obvious, isn’t it? Pleasure in life is not the absence of pain! We find pleasure only through challenges, or “pain” as it were.

No pain, no gain.

There is this guy I know.

He's trying to conquer an internet addiction.

He's trying to conquer an addiction to unhealthy food.

He's trying to conquer an addiction to comfort.

We have such a pull towards comfort - everyone knows that comfort sells.

Judaism says that comfort does not = pleasure.

Comfort comes when you get rid of pain.

Pleasure comes when you use pain to gain.

Think about exercise and sport. Think about learning music. Think about learning anything. Think about trying to be a better wife or husband or parent or child or friend.

Difficulties in life, these are the pain that we need in order to experience the real pleasures of life.

Think about it.

For your table - What are the biggest pains in your life? What are the biggest pleasure?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - This Table Talk was adapted from The Art of Amazement - nearly a decade in print.

PPS - Want to make your Table Talk rabbi happy? Like it, tweet it, or just forward it to someone who might enjoy it.