Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World
Today’s Mishna states: He used to say: if I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? This passage speaks to the importance of intrinsic motivation, meeting your obligations, and acknowledging the passing of time. Below is a summary of
It’s taken for granted that being a part of a community is a good thing, even if we don’t belong to one. However, we forget that being a part of community also implies you have obligations to the community as well. The Talmudic reading I studied yesterday focused on this passage: “Hillel says: Do not
This weekend I attended a reform synagogue for Saturday Shabbat services. Reform Judaism is a primarily American movement whose goal is to make Judaism compatible with modern life and culture. This is fascinating because it is emblematic of the classic struggle between tradition and modernity. Are the laws and rituals of Judaism timeless? Is it
Friday night I hosted my very first Shabbat dinner. My girlfriend and I invited seven of our friends over to welcome the Sabbath and spend a pleasant evening drinking wine and eating the questionable brisket I prepared. Preparing for Shabbat dinner was actually quite stressful. We stressed over the invite list, the food, cleaning, etc.
Tonight I will be hosting my first Shabbat dinner. It’s a big production. I cooked a test brisket and botched it…badly..tough as leather. We’ll see how the next few turn out. In addition to my brisket prep, I’m also preparing a short speech about why I’m doing this project and why Shabbat is important. I
Yesterday, I wrote about the four types of temperaments as discussed in the Talmud. Today, we’ll look into the four types of students and how they stack up. “There are four types of students: a) One who grasps quickly and forgets quickly, his gain is offset by his loss; b) One who grasps slowly and
The Talmud reading yesterday was about various personality types as it relates to anger. The various temperaments are: A) Angers easily and is pacified easily B) Hard to anger and hard to pacify C) Hard to anger and quick to pacify D) Quick to anger and hard to pacify People with the C personality are
Ross Douthat wrote an excellent article yesterday about two, apparently contradictory social study findings. Most studies show that religious faith is highly correlated with a number of social goods, including “health and happiness, upward mobility, social trust, charitable work and civic participation.” However, the most religious parts of the US, the Bible Belt in the deep south, have
On Saturday night, I attended a 10-year reunion dinner for my college’s ballet club, Balance. Little did you know, I am actually an aspiring ballerina. Before I wanted to be a Navy SEAL, I wanted to dance like no one has danced before. Just kidding. My girlfriend was a member of the group while we
My first Shabbat kicked off Friday evening. I went to a friend’s home for Shabbat dinner and was able to observe how his family practices the Jewish tradition. The next morning I spent two and a half hours (unintentionally) at a Shabbat service. I say unintentionally because I guess most people don’t show up for