If you somehow found out that you had one day left to live (God forbid), what would you do? Or rather, what would you do differently? We don’t know when we will die, and we generally act as if there’s always another tomorrow, another opportunity, another day. Judaism recognizes our human nature and tells us to repent one day before death. Since we don’t know when that is, we should repent – perform t’shuvah, every day.
It took a while, but the craftspeople returned the bowl to him. It looked somewhat different than before, but it was beautiful. In repairing the bowl, The artisans created a new art form, named kintsugi. Translated as golden joinery and still popular today, its artisans mend areas of breakage with powdered metals. It does not try to patch them up or blend them so that they aren’t noticeable. From a Philosophical perspective, kintsugi seeks to highlight an object’s imperfections.
Whether it’s driving to Atlanta in the morning or being the unfortunate victim of downtown gridlock just after a UGA game … Oh my gosh, the traffic was so bad … It took me 15 minutes to get across Milledge Ave … We’ve all been there.
But here’s the thing that most of us don’t realize. Even as we complain about traffic, each of us contributes to the traffic … We are the traffic!
1968 was a difficult year. Racial discord and foreign conflicts created an atmosphere of tension and anger. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated. The United States was embroiled in the war in North Vietnam. The Cold War continued to escalate. There were student protests taking place throughout America, some resulting in violence. The zeitgeist of the country was one of anger, frustration and sadness. People were discontent. In fact, the editors of Time Magazine chose as its Man of the Year, The Dissenter.
Our city of Athens is home to the tree that owns itself, but in a forest in New Zealand, there is a greater curiosity. There is a tree stump that has no leaves, no stems, and no greenery that is somehow still alive. It’s alive because the kauri trees that surround it rerouted its system of roots so that they could be hydraulically coupled with the stump, keeping it alive.
During my first year at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College, we studied with Dr. David Aaron, a Bible scholar. During one class session, he talked about these two books of Ecclesiastes and Job, and shared a powerful memory.
In the first century, Rabbi Hillel was asked to explain Judaism in one sentence. His response was not one of belief or theology, but action. And it was specifically about action toward our fellow neighbors, a political answer
Congregation Rodeph Shalom is located on the Upper West Side in New York City. Every year during Passover, the synagogue partners with Harlem’s Memorial Baptist Church for what they call a Third Seder. During this seder these two communities gather together and share stories of slavery and redemption.
In a small borough in Northampton County, lies a town called Roseto. Roseto was founded in 1882 by a group of Italians sailing from their…
Dr. Laurie Santos teaches one of the most popular courses in the history of Yale University. It’s so large, in fact, that the class meets…