News & Politics / 12 Dec 2019
I Will Not Let Antisemitism Define My Judaism
Although I mourn the deaths at the Kosher Market, I refuse to look away from those who think of me as undeserving of life.
Hold Dualities Together / 05 Dec 2019
How An Israeli Poet Helped Ease My Longing For Israel
My longing for Israel was keeping me from feeling at home in the US.
Book Club / 26 Nov 2019
Five Personal Development Books That Changed My Life
Book suggestions to help carve the way for a rich and better life.
Inspiring People / 21 Nov 2019
Rumi Reminds Me That No Religion Has A Monopoly On Beauty Or Truth
Rumi reminds me that Christians don’t have a monopoly on what is good and beautiful and true.
There's More To You Than You Realize / 14 Nov 2019
With A Little Chutzpah You Can Change Your World
My chutzpah enabled me to forge a whole different life for myself.
Grief & Coping, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 23, 2013
Can the Death of a Parent Bring Families Together?
Few moments in life are as difficult as losing one’s parent. In the swirl of sadness and mourning, a parent’s death can unify or further divide the surviving family. In some cases, the highly charged emotions may amplify issues between siblings. But this can also be a remarkable opportunity to heal some of those long-standing hurts and wounds that are part of every family I know, including my own. There can be a positive potential for healing in this otherwise excruciating moment. Certainly, there are always reasons to resist coming together, especially......
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Relationships & Family, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 22, 2013
In Today’s News Cycle, Has the Term ‘Bullying’ Lost Its Meaning
Brad Lewis took to YouTube and Facebook within hours of burying his son, Jordan, who shot himself in the heart.? “This bullying has to stop,” Lewis said in a seven-minute video. But is it right to blame a suicide on bullying?? Is it really that simple?? Aren’t many more kids bullied than the number of kids who harm themselves?? Has the term lost its impact because it means so many different things? I asked myself these questions after reading the story about Brad and Jordan Lewis, and I even found that I......
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Book Club, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 21, 2013
How Reading Literary Fiction Makes Us More Empathetic
My grandmother used to say, ‘you are what you eat’, (even despite her lovingly burning everything she cooked).? My mother would say, ‘you are how you spend your money’ while my father would think ‘you are what you spend your time on’. And I can still hear my middle school principal’s admonishment ‘you are who your friends are’. ?Undoubtedly, they were all right to some extent, as lots of things contribute to “who we are”. Well, that list just got longer.? ?According to psychologists David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano at the......
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Why we sleep is a question that has captivated philosophers and scientists for millennia. If you really think about it, letting go of all activity and going to sleep for several hours every day – becoming totally unconscious and completely vulnerable?- is actually quite bizarre.?Yet sleep is not just a human need: every species of animal on the planet is known to sleep in some fashion. Recent findings have shown that when we sleep, our brain undergoes a sort of mop-up process that removes waste products linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.......
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Recently, I read about a fascinating psychological study conducted by Angelika Seidel and Jesse Prinz of CUNY (the City University of New York). Participants were told to imagine that the Mona Lisa had been destroyed in a fire, but that there happened to be a perfect copy – one that even experts couldn’t tell from the original. Then, subjects in the study were asked: If they could see just one or the other, would they rather see the ashes of Leonardo da Vinci’s original Mona Lisa, or the absolutely flawless duplicate? Eighty......
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Peace.? It’s not just the absence of war. ?And security, whether it is military, economic, or emotional, is about much more than the absence of an active battle. “The U.S. economy dodged a bullet today. But the reprieve will be short,” Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics at IHS Global Insight, said Wednesday in an analysis. ?Scary stuff, because dodging bullets is not the same as making peace — just ask any soldier who has gone to war. We need more than bullet dodging. ?We need to address an imperiled economy, persistent......
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News & Politics, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 16, 2013
When We the People Don’t Vote, We Don’t Have a Voice
Whatever one’s politics, it is pretty clear we have a dysfunctional government in which partisanship and party lines trumps compromise. ?It’s easy to blame politicians, to judge their motivations, but where is our own responsibility? Where are “We the People” in all of this? The fact is relatively few of us vote – less than 60% in presidential years and only 40% in midterms – which, makes us 120th of 169 countries on voter turnout. If we don’t vote and only those who are the most passionate and ideological do – especially......
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There has long been the cultural stereotype that children reject their parent’s taste in music. I certainly did.? I eschewed my parent’s symphonic classical music and operas for The Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Dylan, The Stones, The Who, The Doors, The Beatles. Classic rock – there wasn’t anything better. Today, however, I’m not sure this stereotype rings as true anymore. My two daughters, both in their 20s, were visiting home recently, and I was struck by their diverse tastes in music. They like – and regularly listen to –......
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Columbus Day 2013 is officially observed Monday, October 14th, and like the old comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say about himself, “it don’t get no respect” – at least not much, which is a shame.? While all but 3 states recognize this federal holiday, it has lost almost all significance to most Americans other than those of Italian descent who celebrate Christopher Columbus’ Italian heritage. That’s a shame, as there is much about the Columbus story to celebrate, whether we judge him to be a hero or a villain. There is plenty......
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Inspiring People, Wisdom Warehouse |
October 11, 2013
What Makes a Teacher Great – Remembering Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
When nearly one million people attend a teacher’s funeral, as happened this week in Jerusalem, one can’t help but pay attention. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, was a cultural, spiritual, intellectual and even political phenomenon. ?A former chief rabbi of Israel, the?spiritual leader of the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party, and a teacher revered across many ethnic and religious borders, he?was?buried this week?in the largest funeral in Israel’s history. ?His enormous popularity can teach us so much about what it means to be a great teacher and how we can find the great teachers we......
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Watch: Barbara Johns, Teenage Revolutionary Against Racism
16-year-old Barbara Johns stood up against racial segregation and inequality in America's schools,
