June 6, 2008 at 7:15 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Egypt, learning, meaning, mizvah, Passover, Pesach, Torah
In every
generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we, ourselves, came out of
Egypt , as it is written: And
you shall tell your child on that day saying, This is what God did for me, when
I came out of
Egypt . (Exodus 13:8 )
What are you? Are you a Jew? What is your story? What do you
tell your children? Do you tell the story of coming out of Egypt? Do you tell it as your story?
Describing our challenges and proudest moments help define a picture of who we
are. This helps frame and set a context for our story. We tell our story of a
great people to keep our history alive. Stories of our families and our people
are important for children to learn about who they are and to provide an
identity and a connection to their heritage.
Our people have a long and brilliant history of underdogs struggling and
overcoming. Over the years we have lived under many difficult regimes then
succeeded beyond the expectations of the nations we embraced.
Under slavery and horrible conditions of an oppressive kingdom in Egypt we
struggled. We left Egypt and
made our way to the land
of Israel and built a
great nation. Then the story repeats itself in history. In every generation we
encounter a struggle against rulers. And in every generation we succeed and
change the world. Within the ups and downs, each year we connect our children with the story of coming out of Egypt.
This is our history. Interestingly, G-d knew this would be valuable to sustain
and connect this group of people we call Jews. We are given the mitzvh “And
you shall tell your child on that day saying, This is what God did for me, when
I came out of
Egypt .“
Our tradition helps define regular intervals and the context to tell the story.
We created a Haggadah and seder so that every year at Passover we tell our
story.
Our history, traditions and beliefs help sustain
and empower us as a community. G-d did this — brought us out of Egypt
to accept the Torah, to teach it to our children and to remain a
special community in the light of G-d. Teach this to your children as a
personal journey and your children will identify and be proud to be
Jews.
This Passover is your opportunity to tell your children about the family
struggles and family triumphs. You have an opportunity to do a mitzvah and
include the story of Exodus this Passover holiday.
Happy Pesach and good feasting.
Leave a Comment
June 1, 2008 at 5:58 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: good, learning, practice, trying
Early in my career I worked for a boutique consulting organization. Most of my colleagues were overacheivers. Many were perfectionist. Many of those could not move forward until they had they had everything down pat. This may be fine if you have the answers or all the time in the world. It isn’t fine if you just need to start.
One of the leaders of the company stood up at our Friday company meeting and tried to urge a bias for action. He explained that he understood the need to be able to do everything before moving forward however, he pointed out, the world has changed and just doing something is more beneficial. As he said “Perfect is the Enemy of Good.”
I like this phrase. I have a bias toward action. I believe the only way I can learn is to try. I believe the only way to incorporate new ideas into my behavior is to take one step at a time. This is what I try to do at work as well as in my Jewish practices. As I learn something new I try it several times. I think about it. I feel it. Somethings work many do not.
Just try one practice at a time. Make it a habit. Think about it. Feel it. Remove what does not work, practice what does. This is good.
Leave a Comment
