Tag Archives: wisdom

The Danger of Being Certain

01 Monday May 2023

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“It ain’t what we don’t know that gets us in trouble, it’s what we know for certain that just ain’t so.” 

 – Anonymous

In the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, Rabbi Kahana is quoted as saying that if the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish court,  unanimously finds an accused person guilty, he is acquitted. Why? Because we have learned that tradition dictates that a judgment must be postponed awhile in hopes of finding new points in favor of the defense. Talmudic commentary explains that when a Sanhedrin unanimously convicts a defendant, collusion must be suspected. Since a verdict is reached without any dissenting opinion, the judges on the Sanhedrin are not doing their job properly.

In other words, we should be suspicious of, even set aside, any conclusion without an element of doubt or dissent! Certainty is suspect! 

I recall visiting  Aushwitz-Birkenau some years ago with one of my rabbis, Sheila Peltz Weinberg. Having gazed into the ovens, and as we literally stood upon the ruins of the crematoria, the rabbi remarked, “I pray I am never this certain about anything.” In otherwords, so certain in our cause as to commit genocide.

In my own life, the times I have gotten into the biggest messes have been when I was the least reflective and the most certain. Having no shred of doubt blinds us to other possibilities in an infinite world. We cannot function of paralyzed. But the wisest counsel when we choose a course of action, is to be aware that there may be other worthy  paths, and that despite our best reasoning and intentions, we may be wrong. 

Where in your life are you overly certain, to your peril? 

Versions of the opening quote have been attributed to Will Rogers, Mark Twain, Josh Billings, and Artemis Ward, among others. However, it cannot definitively be ascribed to any of them. It seems to have been collectively developed over many people, times and places. Ironically, the authorship remains uncertain. 

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and student of The All. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@joe.laur.com.

The Soul’s Long Journey

12 Wednesday Apr 2023

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“To what does the journey of the soul compare? To a person who planted a vineyard in his garden, intending to grow sweet grapes, but it grew sour ones. He saw that his planting didn’t succeed. He notched it and broke it off and cleared out the sour vines, and he planted again a second time. ‘Until how many times?’ [his students asked.] He said to them: ‘To the thousandth generation.’ ~ Sefer Bahir 185

In our high speed internet era, where nearly every need and whim can be satisfied with a mouse click, it can be challenging to accept that personal growth does not work that way. Our souls have their own timeframe, not measured in minutes, hours, days and years.  

Our souls are on learning journeys, and the greatest learnings are the ones that come to us only after many failed attempts at success. In fact, the case can be made that we deeply learn only by repeated failures.

when i learned to ride a bicycle, i did so primarily by being out of balance most of the time, falling down a hundred different ways, until I found the sweet spot where the force of gravity and the force of my legs balanced, where I rode that dynamic knife edge between left and right, moving forward on a path of balance. Once learned, it is not easily forgotten. You never forget how to ride a bike.  

Our souls are on the greatest trip of all, riding the sweet spot between wonder and knowledge, fear and exhilaration, love and solitude, heaven and earth. I don’t know if my soul is immortal or not. I do know that it belongs to eternity, and will travel that path of learning, passing it down through a thousand generations. 

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and student of The All. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@joe.laur.com.

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.

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.

Seek The Truth, Avoid Those Who Find It

28 Monday Mar 2016

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“People are only wise when they are searching for wisdom; when they feel they have achieved it completely, they are fools.”

-Solomon ibn Gabirol

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One of my friends and mentors used to warn me, “Joe, stay close to those seeking the Truth and far away from those who’ve found it.” His implication was that truth is too vast to be fixed to one thing, one place, one time. Therefore it’s always possible to seek it, but if we’ve found The One And Only Truth, we are probably missing something. Like sunlight, our paths can be illuminated by it, but we cannot hold it in our grasp.

People often criticize spiritual texts, especially the Bible, for their inconsistencies. Others hold every jot and tittle to be literally true. Both, in my opinion, miss the point. Like the Zen koan about the finger pointing at the moon, once the moon is seen the finger is no longer needed. So it is with sacred texts, rituals, customs, even wisdom. They point toward that which  can never be fully grasped, fully understood, fully grasped in our hands or our minds. It can only be experienced in this moment, and the next moment and the next. And they are only true for the moments in which they are true.

Nothing in the universe is fixed or constant- not the celestial orbs, not sunlight or moonlight, not the winds, tides, seasons, or the continents. Love waxes and wanes even in the most constant relationships, feelings shift; on some days grace fills us to overflowing and on others it is unconsolably absent. The only constancy is flux. So too with Wisdom and Truth.

So to try to grasp Truth or Wisdom as a singular thing is a fool’s mistake. Rather it is a journey,  a river flowing through our lives, a sunbeam illuminating our way. It can not be held in our hand anymore than Love can. Like G!D, Truth is a essentially a verb, not a noun. Wisdom is a path. We can walk in it, but never really possess it. And that’s the Truth! 🙂

What Truth or Wisdom are you seeking today? What Truth or Wisdom is seeking you?

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Solomon ibn Gabirol (alt. Solomon ben Judah), was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neo-Platonic bent. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, and satire.

In the 19th century it was discovered that medieval translators had Latinised Gabirol’s name to Avicebron and had translated his work on Jewish Neo-Platonic philosophy into a Latin form that had in the intervening centuries been highly regarded as a work of Islamic or Christian scholarship. As such, Ibn Gabirol is well known in the history of philosophy for the doctrine that all things, including soul and intellect, are composed of matter and form, and for his emphasis on Divine Will.

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

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

-Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

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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?

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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.

A Day to Live

24 Thursday Mar 2016

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“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

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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?

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

Living Beauty Every Day

19 Saturday Mar 2016

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“Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened.  Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading.  Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

-Rumi (translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks)

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This quatrain of Rumi has resonated with me for over 20 years. How many mornings do we wake up with dread or worry, “empty and frightened” about the day ahead? Too often our inclination is to dive into work to keep the fears at bay. Rumi thinks this is a bad idea.

Rather than busy our selves immediately with tasks, emails, phone calls and spreadsheets, what if we started each day playing guitar, flute or piano, or singing a song, or just 15 minutes of standing near a tree or watching the sun climb in the sky? What is it we most love to do? How would our lives be different if we started each day with that?

What beauty can you love and bathe in today?

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Jalal ad-Din Muhammed Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufimystic. Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions; people of all faiths and nations have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the “most popular poet” and the “best selling poet” in the United States.

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

Love is ENOUGH

18 Friday Mar 2016

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You need power only when you want to do something harmful. Other wise, Love is enough to get everything done.

–Charles Chaplin

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Sudden torrents of water can create dramatic and disruptive change, but steady rain, groundwater and constant flow accomplish more over time with less harm. What, instead of always trying harder, we tried softer? What if love could accomplish our most important goals for connection, family, community? I think the good news is that it can.

Where can love flow in your life today, and to whom?

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Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp” and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry.[1] His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

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