This coming Friday (November 20) at the suggestion of both Jody Goldenberg and Brittany Kahn, we’ll be reading and discussing the essay, “Navigating Turbulent Waters” by Jimmy Liao. In it he discusses his difficult relationship with his father and how it has shaped his approach to life. For me the essay raises two issues: the ways in which difficult family relationships influence us, and the ways in which we respond to the turbulent times in our life. The first issue is particularly fitting since the weekly Torah portion, Toldot, describes the difficult constellation of relationships among Isaac, Rebecca, and their twin sons, Esau and Jacob. These strained relationships will influence the course of Jewish history. And while Liao, the essayist recommend a “go with the flow” approach to life, our biblical ancestors believed in taking matters in to their own hands, which seems to be the opposite approach. I look forward to exploring these ideas with you on Friday night.
28 Oct
Gettting started
Hi JCK folk,
I am attempting to enter the 21st century by opening a blog within which we can discuss issues of interest to us as a Jewish community and discuss the essays we are reading in “This I Believe II”.
This past Shabbat we read and discussed two contrasting essays: “Untold Stories of Kindness” by Sgt Ernesto Haibi, a medic in the 23rd infantry battalion in which he describes his experiences in Iraq, and “A Potential for Brutality” by Yinong Young-Xu in which he recounts his experiences as a young child growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the way in which brutality became normalized. The week’s Torah portion was the story of Noah. You may recall that God becomes so discouraged with humankind that it becomes necessary to wipe them all out and start again with Noah. These essays and the Torah portion all raise the question: Is human nature good or evil?
Those of us who were together for services on Friday night agreed that people can be influenced in either direction. As Haibi observes, even in the midst of war, he saw fighters and civilians reach out to each other in caring and non-partisan ways. And as Young-Xu notes, regular people can become so used to public torture and humiliation that these occasions take on an air of festivity. We discussed that people can be pushed towards good or evil both as individuals and as members of a group. It takes courage to be the one who insists on doing what is right, even when others make different choices. And I pointed out to our Bar Mitzvah-to-be, Jason New, that that was both the gift and the burden of responsibility. It is much easier to let others make decisions for us, to go along with the crowd. It is hard to stick with what we know to be right in the face of peer pressure.
Overall, our first “This I Believe” Shabbat was not a particularly controversial one. Perhaps our next one will generate more debate.
If there is an essay or two essay that you would like to have us discuss on Shabbat, please just recomend them to us either via this blog, or by emailing me privately.
