Seeing Where We Are

13 Wednesday Apr 2016

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“Sometimes I go about pitying myself    while I am carried by the wind across the sky…”

-An Ojibwe(Chippewa) song, from Path On The Rainbow

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My daughter was stuck on the tarmac, her flight delayed, but unable to leave the plane. She called me, a plaintive, aggrieved tone in her voice. “Dad, we’ve been sitting out on the runway for 90 minutes now! What a pain.”

I listened calmly, a smile forming on my face.  I spoke in a smooth, even voice. “Honey, I know it’s inconvenient. But you’re not in Syria.They have problems. You and I have annoyances.”

I know I was being a little smug with her. I’ve been in the same spot, whining about traffic, or an unexpected expense, or some other thing my son calls “first world problems.” If I can lift my eyes up from my own navel for a minute, and look at my overall circumstances, I realize I have very few real problems. My life is generally great. Yes, tragedies have occurred, I’ve made terrible blunders a few times, I’ve had my share of disappointments. But when I see the way I usually live, how much I’ve thrived, the love and esteem of my family and finds,  I realize that I truly am “carried by the wind across the sky” even in trying times. Seeing the truth of it minimizes my complaints and maximizes my blessed gratitude.

How are you being carried by great forces today?

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The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, or Chippewa are a group of indigenous peoples in North America. There are Ojibwe communities in both Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the second-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by the Cree. In the United States, they have the fourth-largest population among Native American tribes, surpassed only by the Navajo, Cherokee, and Lakota.

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.

Give More, Get More

12 Tuesday Apr 2016

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“There is one who gives away freely and prospers more! There is one who holds back more than is right, but still lacks. The soul that blesses will have abundance! In watering others, he waters himself abundantly.”

– King Solomon Ben David, Proverbs 11:24-25

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My friend Freyda Black sent me a story  about a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.

“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Don’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”

This illustrates beautifully the proverb attributed to King Solomon. When we try to hold on too tightly to what we’ve got, we risk losing it; when we share generously with others, it comes back to us multiplied. This is as true in economics as it is in karma. Taking care of each other, of the common good, prospers the human communities of which we are part.

When Henry Ford doubled his workers daily wages, he help create a prosperous middle class that could afford to buy his cars! “We increased the buying power of our own people, and they increased the buying power of other people, and so on and on,” Ford wrote. “It is this thought of enlarging buying power by paying high wages and selling at low prices that is behind the prosperity of this country.”

Intersting to think of this,  as the movement toward a $15 minimum wage gathers momentum. How much do we cost ourselves by holding too much back? How much can we gain by giving freely?

How can you trust in natural abundance and give freely to day?

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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Qur’an, and Hidden Words, a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David. The conventional dates of Solomon’s reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE. He is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Both the Talmud and the Quran consider him a prophet. Solomon is traditionally considered the author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, and the later apocryphal book the Wisdom of Solomon.

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.

Planting For Those Who Come After Us

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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“Honi the Circle Maker was journeying on the road and he saw a man planting a carob tree; he asked him, “How long does it take [for this tree] to bear fruit?” The man replied: “Seventy years.” He then further asked him: “Are you certain that you will live another seventy years?” The man replied: “I found carob trees in the world; as my forefathers planted these for me so I too plant these for my children.”

 

-Talmund (Ta’anit 23a)

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An old Chinese saying goes, “Think a year ahead, plant grass. Think 10 years ahead, plant trees. Think 100 years ahead, educate the people.”

This aggadah about Honi and the carob tree illustrates this point beautifully. It shows the wisdom and the moral strength of planting for the future, even a future that we may not live to see. The carob trees in the story will feed the next generation, but the story itself will educate and feed generation after generation.

If we only think in terms of our own lifespan, we live in a very narrow world indeed. When we consider, with our thoughts and actions, the impact and blessing we can pay forward to future generations, we in habit a world beyond imagination.

What can you do today to grow the future?

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Aggadah (Aramaic: “tales, lore”) refers to non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.

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.

Turning Teaching Into Idols

09 Saturday Apr 2016

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“The Torah warns us not to turn G!D’s commandments into idols.”

–Menahem Mendel of Kotsk

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Torah means teaching. This quote from Menahem Mendel warns us not to mistake the teaching for the Divinity it points toward. If we make a religious or spiritual maxim into a rigid unyielding principle; if we worship the teaching itself over our fellow humans; if we sacrifice ourselves or others on the altar of doctrine we are committing a form of idolatry.

Extreme fundamentalists of every faith give us tragic examples of this. A Jewish gunman who murders 29 Muslims at prayer based on a twisted reading of a piece of text, or a prime minister based on a tortured rabbinic interpretation. A Muslim who translates jihad from an inner struggle to one that allow the slaughter of innocents, or a Christian member of the Army of God gunning down a pro-choice women’s health provider and his bodyguard, Hindu extremist groups murdering Gandhi, or even Buddhist terrorist groups in Myanmar. Anytime a religious teaching is used to justify violating basic human principles, it is an act of idolatry- putting a principle ahead of a person.

But we all, at some time, put a principle ahead of a person, whether it’s turning a blind eye to someone with a cardboard sign on the street corner because we don’t want to reward sloth, or misguided notions of “spare the rod, spoil the child” based on a misreading of a single line of text, or holding one group as holier or more deserving than another because they share our beliefs (can you say Democrat and Republican?); all examples of idolatry.

If we are made in the Divine Image, as most of our theological stories teach, then aren’t we better served seeing the Divine in one another rather than in religious words or artifacts?As Rumi says while cradling a dog who reminds him of the Divine Love, “Just look at this face!”

What teaching do you need to put in service to others today, rather than the other way around?

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Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, better known as the Kotzker Rebbe (1787–1859) was a Hasidic rabbi and leader.

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.

Full Work for Full Wages

08 Friday Apr 2016

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“In the same manner that an employer is forbidden to deny the poor employee his salary, or hold back what is owed him in any way, the employee is also forbidden to deny the employer the true effort of his work by wasting his time, either in pieces or the day as a whole.”

-Maimonides

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Not only should employers, who usually have the upper hand in the employee/employer power dynamic, pay their workers promptly (“Do not hold a worker’s wages overnight”), but workers are equally obligated to give a fair day’s work for a fair wage.

In today’s digitally connected workplace, this includes staying off Facebook, Twitter, sending personal emails and playing Hearts or Solitaire during paid hours. We won’t even get into porn sites, which carry an entirely different and related set of issues.

I’ve been self employed most of my career, and I need to especially guard against the temptation to fritter time during the day. Fortunately, I’m very good at getting a lot done in a short period of time, so I usually earn my wage. And I can be just as prone to working longer than I should as well. The key is fair work for fair pay.

How can you give full work for full pay today?

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Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (acronymed Rambam for “Rabbeinu Moshe Ben Maimon”, and Latinized Moses Maimonides), was a preeminent medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher and astronomer,and became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He worked as a rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt.

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.

Teach Your Children Well

07 Thursday Apr 2016

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“Who is ignorant? He who does not educate his children”

-Rabbi Jonathan ben Joseph

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Just as the concept of sustainability is meaningless without a next generation, so too is education. If learning is not passed on and built upon, it declines, rather than grows and progresses.

The Crosby, Stills, and Nash song, “Teach Your Children Well”, captures both the need for older generations to pass on their experience AND to learn from the vision of their children, who will live into worlds we can scarcely imagine.

We can never give the next generation everything they need to know to live into the world they will inherit. But we can equip them to think for themselves, to learn the lessons of the past and to envision the kind of future they want to create. That’s as close as it gets to an antidote for ignorance.

What can you teach a young person in your life today? What can they teach you?

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Jonathan ben Joseph was a Lithuanian rabbi and astronomer who lived in Risenoi, Grodno in the late 17th century and early 18th century. Jonathan studied astronomy and mathematics.

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.

Sweeten the Lemonade

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

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“Therefore, the pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.”

-Rav Kook

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A friend of mine teaches a life metaphor about lemonade. If the lemonade is too sweet, he says, we don’t try to take some of the sugar out; we add more lemon. If it’s too sour, we don’t try to draw out some of the lemon, we add more sugar. We bring what is needed for improvement to the mix, rather than fighting with what’s already present.

This is Rav Kook’s lesson; rather than resisting or bemoaning some ill, we work to increase something healthy to contract it. As the saying goes, what you resist, persists. By focusing on evil, darkness, heresy, ignorance, we only give them power. Hitting the nail drives it deeper into the wood.

So rather than resisting what we don’t want, we and the world are better served by assisting what we do want, and bringing more of that into life’s “lemonade.”

What’s needed that can you bring more of into the world today?

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Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandatory Palestine, the founder of Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav Kook (The Central Universal Yeshiva), Jewish thinker, Halakhist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar. He is known in Hebrew as HaRav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, or simply as “HaRav.” He was one of the most celebrated and influential rabbis of the 20th century.[1]

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.

Schooled By Light

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

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“If a rock, though extremely hard, can be hollowed out by water, how much more so should it be possible for The Light, which is compared to water, to change my heart. I will begin to study it, and try to become a scholar of The Light.”

-Rabbi Akiva

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This beautiful act of faith and surrender by Rabbi Akiva has many lessons to teach us. We know that biologically, light can be invigorating, motivating, relaxing or calming. Light can be used for medical treatment, to  promote productivity at work and schools and to enable passengers on long-distance flights to relax. A wide spectrum of knowledge concerning the biological effects of light has been verified in scientific studies.

And light is such a common and powerful metaphor in the spiritual realm as well! “I saw the Light” croons the country singer. “Go toward the Light” is a common deathbed whisper. And most of us are seeking some form  of “en-light-en-ment”.

A friend of mine used to ask, “Why can angels fly? Because they take themselves lightly!” So perhaps if we let light into our souls, to illuminate us, to enlighten our spirits, we can transform the cold heavy rock of certainly, of despair, of hardened hearts. As the sun striking my solar panels outside my window creates electricity, so may the light striking our hearts yield unfathomable power and peace.

What hard bits of yourself can you bring into the light today?

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Akiva ben Joseph (40 – c. 137 CE), widely known as Rabbi Akiva, was a tanna of the latter part of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century (3rd tannaitic generation). Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the Mishnah and Midrash Halakha. He is referred to in the Talmud as Rosh la-Chachamim (Head of all the Sages).

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.

Light Trumps Darkness

04 Monday Apr 2016

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“A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.”

-Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi

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In Bereshit, commonly known as the book of Genesis, the first action taken and the first words spoken by Elohim (literally “gods”, not God as usually translated), are “Let there be light! “And, of course,  there was light.

Now it follows that if we are indeed created in the Divine Image, then we can create light too- both the internal kind, by brightening ours or another spirits, and the external kind, by simply lighting a lamp. And as external light sources can affect our inward reality, so too can our inward light impact those around us.

As Reb Schneur Zalman says, it doesn’t take much light to dispel a lot of darkness. A little shining on our part, just a choice to “Let there be light”, can illuminate whole worlds. Because Light trumps Darkness. But only every time.

Where can you bring more light into the world today?

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Shneur Zalman of Liady (September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812), was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia.

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.

One Water, Many Wells

02 Saturday Apr 2016

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“Divided as we may be by religion, we are united by charity.”

-Rashi
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Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, of blessed memory, was at an ecumenical gathering where someone commented that all faiths are headed to the same place, just by different roads. He begged to differ. “We are all on the same road,” he said, “we are just wearing different shoes!”
The word charity traces its origins back to the Latin word caritas, originally  meaning preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, caritas became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word Αγάπη, meaning an unconditional love for others. It is this latter sense that Rashi would have understood the word, in French,  charité.
Rashi is saying something very simple here- that we may be divided by custom, belief or theology, but when we get to the core of every religion or spiritual path, we find a common theme- unconditional love for others. This is the “water of life” that flows in every religious well. The wells may differ in size, shape, depth or location, but they all tap into the same groundwater. No matter your faith of origin or adoption, you can jump right in – the water’s fine!
How can you “share the water” with someone of a different “well” today?
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Shlomo Yitzchaki( 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), generally known by the acronym Rashi (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise and lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginning students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study. His commentary on the Talmud has been included in every edition of the Talmud since its first printing by Daniel Bomberg in the 1520s. His commentary on Tanach—especially on the Chumash (“Five Books of Moses”)—is an indispensable aid to students of all levels. The latter commentary alone serves as the basis for more than 300 “supercommentaries” which analyze Rashi’s choice of language and citations, penned by some of the greatest names in rabbinic 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.