Category Archives: Contemporary Sages

Running Against The Wind

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

-Jimmy Dean

wind-surfing-67627_1920

I love  river rafting on a hot summer day. Sometimes it’s good just to go with the flow. But I also love to sail with my wife on the Cape. And then we use the flow to go where we want to.

So it is in every day. It’s the better part of wisdom to discern when going along for the ride is just fine, and when we want to run against the wind. Isn’t this what free will is all about? We can choose to revel in whatever G!D sends our way, but like Jacob wrestling with divine energy, we can use that energy to sail our own course. It just takes a vision of what we want and the courage to run with the wind in our faces.

What course do you want to sail today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit “Big Bad John” and his 1963 ABC television series, The Jimmy Dean Show, which also gave puppeteer Jim Henson his first national media exposure. He was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, although he was formally inducted posthumously.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Friendship as Food

18 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

“The primary joy of life is acceptance, approval, the sense of appreciation and companionship of our human comrades. Many men do not understand that the need for fellowship is really as deep as the need for food, and so they go through life accepting many substitutes for genuine, warm, simple.”

-Rabbi Joshua Loth Liebman

girls-462072_1920

The psychological researcher Harry Harlowe demonstrated that primates raised in isolation  preferred a cloth surrogate mother to one that fed them, and demonstrated strange and aggressive behavior in life. Not only family, but nurturing friendship is a critical “nutrient” to our well being.

In  the second chapter of Genesis, the first thing G!D says about the new created adam– literally, earthling or human- is also the first thing that G!D sees as “lo tov”-not good. “It is not good for the earthling to be alone.” Even the Divine recognizes the need for friends and companions.

They say you can’t get enough of what you don’t really need. If we substitute TV, drugs alcohol, work or other surrogates for friends on a regular basis, we may become a little odd. Hermits are traditionally eccentric. It’s no coincidence that recovery from addiction involves fellowship, and that addiction thrives in isolation. Paradoxically, we need others to be wholly ourselves.

What friend can you reach out to for nourishment today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joshua Loth Liebman (1907–1948) was an American rabbi and best-selling author, best known for the book Peace of Mind, which spent more than a year at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

No Place Like Home

16 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

“If you go anywhere, even paradise, you will miss your home.”

-Malala Yousafzai

home-1310286_1920

Dorothy may have had it right. There is a story of Yankel, the tailor of Pletstk, who dreamt he saw a bridge in Rome guarded by a soldier with a treasure buried beneath it.

In the morning Yankel packed his bag and journeyed to all the way to Rome. When he arrived, he saw the bridge and soldier, just like in his dream! He began digging beneath the bridge. When the soldier stopped him, he told him of his dream.

The soldier laughed, “You fool! I dreamt I saw a treasure buried beneath the stove of a little tailor named Yankel in a Jewish town called Pletstk! Crazy stuff! Now get out of here.”

Yankee immediately turned for home, and pulled up the floor beneath his cast-iron stove. There it was – a buried treasure!

Home may not be the house we grew up in, or sometimes, sadly, the family we grew up with, but each of us has one, somewhere. The longing for home is a function of our souls, only sometimes linked to geography. It is the place where our true treasure lies. We may journey the world over, but as Malala says, even Paradise will not replace it. Home is not only where the heart is, it is our heart, and soul, and G!D willing, destiny.

How can you journey toward home today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malala Yousafzai  (born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had  banned girls from attending school. Yousafzai’s advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Not The End Of The World

15 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

“Everything will be okay in the end.
If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” 

— John Lennon

space-71217__340

A friend once gave me some sage advice: “Joe, the only thing that’s the end of the world, is…the end of the world.” In other worlds, every situation, no matter how dire, is not the End of Times, unless, of course, it IS the End Of Times.

Most of what we experience, no matter how painful, distressing, or scary, we survive. The worst thing that happens is that we live through it. Maybe we are chastened, wiser or scarred afterward, but we survive, and usually grow stronger or more savvy as a result.

Perhaps, as John Lennon claims, everything will be ok in the end. He certainly knows, wherever he is now, whether or not that’s true for certain; the rest of us go on faith. But life is sure a lot more enjoyable if we live in the paradigm of OK-ness, rather than one of fear and dread of the future. We get to choose the stories we live by, and I usually go for the ones of growth and evolution.

What can you become “okay” with in your life today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE ( 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a co-founder of the band the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music. With fellow member Paul McCartney, he formed a celebrated songwriting partnership.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Forgiving Ourselves And Others

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

 

“It’s toughest to forgive ourselves. So it’s probably best to start with other people. It’s almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself.”

-Patty Duke

800px-Forgiveness_0001

Forgiveness can be tough to do, and forgiving ourselves may be the toughest slog of all. One of the difficulties is that often we aren’t aware that we are holding ourselves to blame in the first place. Our self blame may be hidden, out of sight, “in shadow” as the Jungians  put it. Even once we have surfaced our own self condemnation, it can still be tough to forgive ourselves. We often hold ourselves to higher standard than we do others. “I should have known better,” or “There’s no excuse for what I did!” are common internal refrains.

It’s time to give ourselves a break. We are just as frail, prone to error, and worthy of forgiveness as anyone else. In fact, to fail to forgive ourselves may be a kind of egoism- that we are such a bad person, so unworthy, nothing in the world can redeem us! Aren’t we special!

What nonsense. The core of the Torah, the Gospels, the Quran and most spiritual texts is to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Not more, not less. Indeed, to love our neighbor we have to love ourselves. And if we don’t forgive, how can we love? We all mess up. We all need, and deserve a second chance. And a third, fourth, seventh, fifteenth, etc.! If we are created in G!D’s image, and Divine Love is boundless, can’t we channel some of that boundless love and forgiveness for ourselves? It’s worth a shot. We can at least forgive ourselves for trying…

What will you forgive yourself for today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anna Marie “Patty” Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She first became known as a teen star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16 for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), a role which she had originated on Broadway. The following year she was given her own show, The Patty Duke Show, in which she played “identical cousins”; she later progressed to more mature roles such as that of Neely O’Hara in the film Valley of the Dolls (1967). Over the course of her career, she received ten Emmy Award nominations and three Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

What Prayer Changes

29 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.”

-C.S. Lewis

kid-1077793_1920

It’s fools game to pray expecting a particular outcome. Whether G!D hears prayer or not, exists or not, Divine Will or the quantum foam may shape a different outcome. But I find prayer essential.

First, as C.S. Lewis famously writes, prayer changes the one praying. Charity starts at home and so does change. To clear the mind, the heart, the soul; to cry out from an empty place, or an angry place, or a joyful place changes the one crying out. I always have a different quality of day when I take the time to pray early and often. It resets my hard drive and refocuses my whole being, it seems.

We are all enmeshed in a global system of biological and psychological and likely spiritual connection. As Dr. Martin Luther King wrote from his Birmingham jail cell: “What affects one directly, affect all indirectly.” No one is an island, so if I improve my physical, or mental, or emotional, or spiritual state, it send out ripples and dances with connections seen and unseen. Who know where it goes and who it impacts?

So if prayer changes me, it almost certainly changes the world. I don’t get to control the exact direction of the change, any more than I do when I let a trickle of water flow down a hill. But I can exert influence on the world by changing myself. Pray locally, change globally!

What change in yourself, in the world, do you want to pray for today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, 1925–54, and Cambridge University  1954–63. He is best known for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Make Your Teachers Miserable!

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

“Make the lives of your teachers as miserable as possible”

-Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

study-for-jacob-wrestling-the-angel-1876-lc3a9on-joseph-florentine-bonnat-detail

My teacher Arthur Kurzweil, who used to drive Rabbi Steinsaltz whenever he came to the U.S., recounts a talk the Talmud scholar gave at a religious high school in his book, On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz. “He said, ‘Look, I don’t know that much about many things, but I know a little bit about Torah study. Make the lives of your Torah teachers as miserable as you can. Try to trip them up and find contradictions in what they say. Ask them the most difficult questions you can think of.’ When he was leaving the principal got up and told the students, ‘Don’t take him too literally.’ At which point, Steinsaltz goes and takes the microphone back and says, ‘My message to you today is: Make the lives of your teachers as miserable as you possibly can.’ And then he walked off the stage.”

Rumi teaches us to follow a “severe teacher” who will lead us into open spaces, but a student who makes the teacher suffer?  I think what Rabbi Steinsaltz means to teach is that we should squeeze everything we can from our teachers, make them think with us, work hard for us, wrestle with us, so we can move as far along on our path as is humanly possible.

The greatest of teachers, Moses, is a prime example of this. Had the Hebrew people not resisted, questioned, whined, complained and balked at nearly everything like stubborn teenagers, would Moses have risen to the level of leader he did? Would the slave mentality have been bred out of the nation without the struggle, like the struggle that strengthens a muscle?

Or Jacob, who through wrestling with the “man”  in the dark, and refusing to let go until he was blessed by the encounter, transformed into Israel- the Godwrestler. As student wrestles with teacher, perhaps both can wrestle into a larger truth than they would have otherwise discovered.

What “teacher” do you need to wrestle with today, to get the most from the encounter?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (born 1937) is a teacher, philosopher, social critic, and spiritual mentor, who has been hailed by Time magazine as a “once-in-a-millennium scholar”. He has devoted his life to making the Talmud accessible to all Jews. Originally published in modern Hebrew, with a running commentary to facilitate learning, his Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud has also been translated into English, French, Russian and Spanish.

 

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Repeating the Past

25 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

“Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?”

-George Bernard Shaw, “Saint Joan”

Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 9.20.30 AM

My friend and teacher Rabbi Arthur Waskow posted a brilliant piece today on his Shalom Center website. Echoing the words above of Bernard Shaw’s repentant judge watching Joan of Arc burn at the stake, he links the question to various spiritual and moral crises of the ages:

“Must Rabbi Akiba’s body be torn by iron rakes in every generation because some of us lack imagination?

Must the Six Million be gassed to death in every generation because some of us lack not imagination of the horror, but compassion for the “Other” who is seen as not really human?

Must 29 Muslims be machine-gunned at prayer in the Tomb of Abraham because some of us are filled with fear, contempt, and hatred?  -– and must their deaths be renewed in every generation, as when  the Dawabsheh family in Palestine were burned alive in their own home? 

Must 30 Jews in the midst of celebrating Passover be blown to shreds in every generation because some of us are filled with fear, contempt, and hatred?  

 Must Martin Luther King and Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman and James Cheney  be murdered in every generation because some of us become addicted to their own power and protect it with their cruelty?

Must Cardinal Romero be murdered as he chanted the Mass and Jean Donovan, Maura Clarke, and four other Catholic lay religious sisters be raped and murdered in every generation because their work for the poor threatened the Salvadoran government?  

Must Emmett Till be lynched and Eric Garner be choked to death in every generation because Black lives don’t matter? 

Must thousands die in the most powerful tornado ever recorded because some of us would burn the Earth to make a super-profit – and because some of us lack the imagination to see our planet choking, hear it wailing, ‘I can’t breathe!'”

Reb Arthur and Bernard Shaw are proof that prophecy continues in every generation, and we either hear the voice of our prophets and return to a path of wholeness, or as generations have before us, suffer the consequences of continual fragmentation.

As over a billion Christians on Good Friday recall and honor the story of a crucifixion 2 millennia ago, we can all ask ourselves Shaw’s question. Can we remember the lessons of the past, in our personal lives, in our community life, in our planetary future, or must we keep repeating them? If we can learn the teachings and walk a different path, then true redemption can occur, and the crucifixions can end.

What painful lesson do you need to remember and redeem today, so as not to repeat it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion(1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

A Day to Live

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

“Two questions to consider: 1. If you had only a day to live, who would you be with and what would you tell them? 2. What are you waiting for?”

-Anonymous

dawn-1226016_1920

I was just headed to dinner at a retreat I was leading when I checked my personal voice messages. The first was from a woman I knew, telling me in tears that a mutual friend we both worked closely with, Ron, had been murdered. In shock, I called my office voice mail immediately, expecting other colleagues to be calling me upon hearing the news.

The first voice mail on that phone was from Ron. He had called me just a couple of hours before being shot to death. His voice was light and breezy, he made a few remarks about a project we were working on together, and then said 3 words I’ve never forgotten: “Call me tomorrow.”

There I was, just minutes after learning of his death, hearing his voice confidently plan a tomorrow that would never come for him. I’ve never taken tomorrow for granted since that day.

We talk about and plan for tomorrow as if it were in our shirt pocket. But one day the shirt will be ripped off, the pocket torn open, and there will be no more tomorrows. It’s not morbid, just data. Not knowing when that day will come means we may want to have our affairs in order, at least on the emotional and spiritual level, today.

The two questions above really help to focus what and who is important to us. Once we know who we want to spend our time with and what we want to tell them, why wait? For the last day? No telling when that day might come, and it may be sooner than we think.

Who do you want to be with today, and what do you want to tell them?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.

Everything Counts

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by in Contemporary Sages, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

“Everything you do is important to God”

-Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
monk-555391_1920

When I was in college, my friends and I had a little saying: ” A hundred years from now, what difference will it make?” Back then we used the question as an excuse to have another drink, another hit of some banned substance, another sexual adventure, another moral lapse. Our message to ourselves was that our nasty little actions were of little consequence in the long scheme of things.

Thank G!D, I’ve grown since then. Now when I consider the same question, “A hundred years from now, what difference will it make?”, I think in terms of long term impact and leverage. How will my actions impact future generations, a world that I’ll never live into or see? How can I make a difference then by what I do now?

In that context, even little actions are potentially momentous. Over time, small changes can shift a long term trajectories, create whole new worlds. As a great actor once remarked; “There are no small roles.” Every little thing we do, and how we do it, is important to G!D, and the future.

What can I do today to make a difference in 100 years?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 5, 1902 – June 12, 1994), known to many as the Rebbe, was a Russian Empire-born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and the last Lubavitcher Rebbe. He is considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.