A buddy of mine posted this picture via social media. Louis Armstrong was smart guy and this quote resonates with me. There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them. To put a positive spin on this we could say that there are some things we can only know through direct experience. Maybe […]
Life Lessons
Surprise
I want to take a moment to reflect on something simple and universal– our capacity to surprise. I’m not talking about springing a gift on an unsuspecting friend or colleague, but rather our capacity to surprise in a more profound way. Here’s what I’m thinking: 1) We all have the capacity to surprise ourselves and […]
As Passover approaches…
As a rabbi, I lament the fact that so many Jews feel that Judaism is a stuffy, boring, repetitive tradition. I lament (and sometimes even resent) this because it’s simply NOT true. It’s actually dead wrong. Jewish rituals, Jewish holiday observances, Jewish worship– all of these, in their truest expressions, are the opposite of stuffy, […]
It’s not perfect but it’s all yours
Walking in Tel Aviv’s Yemenite Quarter I saw this painted on a wall: It’s become a mantra for me. It’s not perfect. It (whatever it is) isn’t meant to be perfect. It can’t, shouldn’t and won’t ever be perfect. But it’s all yours. In its imperfection. In its brokenness. In its flawed, lacking, and at times underwhelming state. […]
Flourishing
At our core we don’t simply want to be successful. We don’t even want to be happy. Sure, we’ll settle for success and happiness, but when we’re really honest with ourselves, we know there’s an even deeper state of being. We, all of us, want to flourish. I’ve long felt that my professional life, working […]
Working on it
Lately I’ve noticed that there’s something that unites all people regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or any of the other identity/demographic markers we sometimes focus on. I’ve noticed that everyone, every single person, is working on something. Working on something? Striving toward some goal, learning a new skill or competency, working on a character trait […]