#blogelul

#BlogElul 2013 Day 28, Give

Better to give than to receive? Apparently we’re wired to feel that way. Darwin, John Stuart Mill, and Adam Smith all described the power of self-interest in moving the world along. Yet recent brain-based research indicates that our biology also disposes us to be generous. 

#BlogElul 2013 Days 24-27, End, Begin, Hope--Intend

In these last moments of summer it feels like the last moments of parenthood.  Oh my, and I thought the first day of kindergarten was a challenge. It's a #Blogelul trifecta of endings and beginnings, laced with nervousness but mainly hope. (I intend to get back on schedule now, but that is blogelul for another day--no wait, that's today!).

#BlogElul 2013 Day 23, Love

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 22, Dare

How do we dare to be ourselves in the world?  "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkeness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

#BlogElul 2013 Day 21, Change

Change is in the air. And it's dusty. The final moments of summer are upon us. My Facebook news feed is filling with the smiling faces of eager new college students getting dorm rooms set up and the laments of the parents who will miss them.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 19, Ask

If nonverbal communication is so powerful, why can't my husband read my mind?

#BlogElul 2013 Day 18, Pray

Lately I've been wondering what the praying brain looks like. At Stanford, they've studied monks in meditation.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 17, Awaken

I went to sleep last night with a lot on my mind. 

#BlogElul 2013 Day 16, Change

Deborah Grayson Riegel of the Jewish Coaching Academy (and author of Oy Vey Isn't a Strategy) has counter intuitive wisdom. If I focus on what is going perfectly for me, I will be better equipped to make changes I want (or NEED) to make . . . . Here's a CHANGE of pace--read her rather than me!

#BlogElul 2013 Day 15, Learn

Have brains changed? When I was young the standard knowledge about the brain was that it started out with all the cells it was going to get, and that the best we could do was to hope not to lose too many to profligate living along the way. I recall especially a public service ad of an egg frying: "This is your brain on drugs."

#BlogElul 2013 Day 14, Remember

Don Weber, 1936-2012 Jacob Behrman, 1921-2012

#BlogElul 2013 Day 12, Trust

"Then you would trust, because there is hope; And you would look around and rest securely." (Job 11:18)     

#BlogElul 2013 Day 11, Count

So I was actually involved recently in an online discussion of when to say ‘fewer’ and when to say ‘less’ (and yes, former high school pals—I am still that geeky). Frankly, after all the flak I’ve gotten over the years from correcting my children on this point it was rather refreshing to stumble upon some like-minded souls who also care about such linguistic difference—even if several of them seem to be Brits with a compulsive need to pun. (The internet is an intriguing place).

#BlogElul 2013 Day 10, See

"Therefore you are my witnesses, says Adonai, and I am God." (Isaiah 43.12) "When you are My witnesses, I am God, but when you are not My witnesses, I am not God, if one may say such a thing." (Sifre to Deuteronomy Piska 346)

#BlogElul 2013 Day 9, Hear

"Am I just background noise?"

#BlogElul 2013 Day 8, Believe

Believe? I defer to a few favorite thoughts from Abraham, Martin, and . . . Mordechai. “All we have is a sense of awe and radical amazement in the face of a mystery that staggers our ability to sense it." Abraham Joshua Heschel “We discover God in the same place we might make a friend." Martin Buber

#BlogElul 2013 Day 7, Be

My dog Ivan is sitting next to me as I type, his head nearly on my keyboard. He is content simply to be.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 4, Accept

Turns out I have trouble with accepting.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 3, Bless

We have not been a family to undertake the blessing over the children on Shabbat. I don’t really know why. There was fuss when we tried, and it never felt that it quite fit. Or perhaps when they were little I allowed myself to become too aggravated over the chores involved just in getting us all to Friday evening in one piece.

#BlogElul 2013 Day 2, Act

So here is a confession I haven’t wanted to make: For a double-digit number of years I have kept a rented storage space, filled with items from several households (my own, and those of several family members, some still with us, some of blessed memory). And I have this even though I live in a reasonably-sized house that can accommodate a reasonable amount of what I will lovingly call junk.

Teach Israel

 Experience Modern Israel

New from Behrman House. Fly to Israel without a plane ticket.

Discover Israel

 Let's Discover Israel

Offer younger children an exciting and age-appropriate introduction to the Jewish homeland