This Week In Wisdom, Wisdom For Builders / 16 Mar 2023
The Adjacent Possible
Life has to be lived forward but can only be understood backward
Uncategorized, Wisdom For Builders / 16 Mar 2023
Ready… Set… Set…
It took G-d a mere week to create the world, but how often do we describe the eternity of preparation that must have preceded this watershed moment? Before G-d turned the light switch on, the infinite possibilities of what could be resided in an amaranthine packet of latent potential. None of it existed until G-d took that brave leap allowing the implicit to coalesce into the explicit. Hebrew has the same root for the word Universe (Olam) and Unknown (Alum). The margin between the abyss and genesis is both infinite and imperceptible. Perhaps this is also true, albeit in far more humble dimensions, for humans engaged in sacred work. Last year I finally launched The Amen Institute – an organization that brings art and Torah into conversation with one another. We have 4 programs that engage thousands of Jews around the world to achieve this in our: Rabbinic-Artist Fellowship High School Mentorship Program Weekly Art Circle Gatherings Educational Music Resources After spending a year and a half having conversations with artists and strategizing our approach, I witnessed my countless all-nighters materialize into an international center of Jewish culture. It felt like an eternity had preceded this landmark moment as I fine-tuned my vision and methodically made my pitch to prospective stakeholders – inviting artists, rabbis, teachers, synagogues, and funders to dream with me. We anticipated an explosive inventiveness that would result when Torah scholars are pushed to see new perspectives on the texts with which they were so familiar when the probing mind of a creative soul could animate their imaginations through the medium of art. Excitement is an infectious creature. As our tent widened and more keen individuals were introduced to our world, their enthusiasm egged me on and inspired me to think even more expansively. The possibilities kept…
Spirituality & Faith / 14 Mar 2023
Sisterhood Goals in the Torah
Here’s to an enlightening Women’s History Month for us all!
Spirituality & Faith / 06 Mar 2023
Purim Lament
May we see a real transformation from mourning to the fulfillment of the Megilla’s blessing of light, joy, happiness, and honor.
Book Club / 03 Mar 2023
Interview With Poet Jared Singer
A conversation with the 36-year-old New Jersey-based poet and sound engineer about publishing his first book, writing for the stage and the page, tattoos, touring and performing, putting on tefillin, learning Hebrew, and losing weight
Is submission a dirty word? Do you hear it and immediately assume that being submissive is somehow less than dignifying? If so, then you will surely be among the critics of New Mexico Congressman, Steve Pearce, who suggests in his new book, “Just Fly The Plane, Stupid”, that women should “voluntarily submit to their husband’s loving leadership”. But perhaps we should slow down a bit and consider the possible wisdom in those words. Now before you scream for my misogynist, backward-facing head, let me explain what I mean. There is real value......
Continue Reading
Yes, such a museum exists – launched in Zagreb, Croatia. In addition, the exhibits tour cities across the world. Nothing in our lives touches us, engages us, changes us, teaches us, devastates us and enchants us more deeply than our most intimate relationships. So now we have The Museum of Broken Relationships, dedicated to love’s end. The curators exhibit personal mementos donated by people who have broken up with someone, or whose hearts were broken by someone, and the objects are accompanied by descriptions that evoke memories and emotions and tell stories......
Continue Reading
The devil is in the details. We’ve all heard it said so often. Less frequently heard, the original formulation was that God is in the details. Both are true! How? Why is it details can be sources of sacred insight and wisdom, yet also sources of hellish frustration? How can even the same details be absurd picayune minutiae sometimes, and fascinating particulars at other times? According to some wisdom traditions, details are the very things which we are meant to rise above. And yet, according to others, they are the very things......
Continue Reading
News & Politics, Videos, Wisdom Warehouse |
January 21, 2014
Video: On the Sacredness of the Superbowl
From Odyssey Network’s Faith on the Record series: “We now know that the Denver Broncos will meet the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. According to a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, nearly half of Americans polled see some supernatural forces affecting the outcome of sports events. So does God pick a winner?? Who knows, says Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, but there are elements of the sacred in and around the Super Bowl.” Odyssey Networks tells the stories of faith in action changing the world for the better. Their stories......
Continue Reading
News & Politics, Wisdom Warehouse |
January 21, 2014
What’s Good for the Duck Is Good for the Gander
The season five premiere of Duck Dynasty aired this past week and posted its first season-to-season drop in ratings: among adults 18-49, the show was down 33%. The two back-to-back episodes marked the first appearance of the Robertson family since Phil the patriarch’s less than politically correct, unfiltered, unconsciously hateful comments about gay men and blacks in GQ.? While still huge numbers for cable, the drop is “newsworthy”. But I’m interested in the visceral reaction to this negative statistic.? Are you happy? Indifferent? Perplexed? Here are a number of possibilities explaining the......
Continue Reading
Can “true religion” be a basis for hatred or division among people? Based on the historical record, it seems clear that the answer is, yes. Of course, that answer puts me at odds with many people, including the Prime Minister of India, who insist that “true religion” is always warm, peaceful and loving. It’s not. Or, if you prefer, the whole notion of “true religion” is a poor way to address the issues which seem to concern the PM. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked people this week to battle religious fanaticism. About......
Continue Reading
Relationships & Family, Wisdom Warehouse |
January 16, 2014
‘Friday Night Tykes’: How Much Should We Push Our Children?
When the NFL says a broadcast about football is difficult to watch because it is too violent, you know there is a problem. This is what the league said about Esquire Network’s Friday Night Tykes, a reality series following several teams of 8-and 9-year-olds in the Texas Youth Football Association.? The trailer shows ranting coaches and obsessive parents, who are essentially fast-tracking kids to head trauma. I kept thinking: I guess in Texas, as long as you pray, you can play to kill. This network’s portrayal of young boys engaged in grueling......
Continue Reading
We need outliers, and we need their ideas. We need the involvement in our lives, especially in the big projects on which we work, of those who see the world differently and think about things in ways which will surprise, if not discomfort us. For those who will quickly say that they already embrace diversity and discomfort, let them appreciate that those are their comfort zones, and they need the input of others, others who privilege uniformity and comfort. Whatever our default position is, be it political, social, spiritual or psychological, we......
Continue Reading
Governor Christie has committed trafficide. As fast as he rocketed to presidential hopeful, he has fallen to being “compared” to Tony Soprano. All I know is what I have read in the papers. Two of Christie’s aides have been fired for shutting down lanes of the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York and is the busiest bridge in the world. For four days, thousands of commuters were terribly delayed in order to create a shutdown of the roads leading to the bridge in the town of Fort Lee?-......
Continue Reading
Business & Education, Wisdom Warehouse |
January 13, 2014
Hackschooling: No More Teachers, No More Books?
In the 21st century, the notion of hacking involves much more than some computer aficionados spreading viruses and breaking into official websites. Hacking is a mindset, a way of thinking. It’s really something anyone can do by challenging traditional systems. Teenager Logan Laplante isn’t home schooled, private schooled or public schooled – he is hackschooled! His education revolves around the study and practice of being happy and growing up healthy and nurturing creativity, things which Logan and his parents believe are outside the focus of traditional education. Here’s a kid who doesn’t......
Continue Reading
Latest Video
Listen To The Names Of The Victims First
A video where Brad Hirschfield lists the victims names in the recent Orlando shooting. Because first we need to internalize a tragedy before we jump to speak.
