Arthur Kurzweil - Author, Teacher, Genealogist, Magician http://arthurkurzweil.com Arthur Kurzweil - Author, Teacher, Genealogist, Magician Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:02:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 “In plague-stricken places, one who has recovered must take care of an entire city” http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/in-plague-stricken-places-one-who-has-recovered-must-take-care-of-an-entire-city/ http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/in-plague-stricken-places-one-who-has-recovered-must-take-care-of-an-entire-city/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:02:09 +0000 Arthur Kurzweil http://arthurkurzweil.com/?p=3977  

We are all working against time, both as a people and as individuals. 

There are two reasons for this. 

The first is the demographic situation of the Jewish people in general.

This situation is simply catastrophic. 

Formal data about the Former Soviet Union, for example, indicate that for every 10 Jews who pass away, only one Jew is born. 

In other words: there is no need to send anyone to kill the Jews; we are eliminating ourselves. 

This phenomenon is partially the result of the fact that the remaining Jewish population is largely comprised of old, single people, and it also has to do with the general atmosphere in Russia. 

Whenever a child is born, it is as if a statement is made: "I believe in the future!" 

When people do not believe there is a future, children cease to be born. 

This is just the simple physical aspect of the issue.

The second reason is the issue of Jewish identity. 

Most of the people who belong to the Jewish people ethnically, even those whose last name is Shapiro, Rabinowitz or Zalmanson, belong only ethnically.

As living people with a national or individual self-definition, they do not belong. 

It really does not matter if your grandfather was a rabbi or your great-grandfather was a tzaddik.

Someone once called this "the potato culture"; meaning that the best part is buried in the earth, whereas what's above the surface isn't worth much. 

When the best thing one can say about a nation is that its citizens are like potato leaves, then that nation is not a living thing.

Yet all is not lost, since one can see a broader, clearer picture from the outside. 

But at any rate, the conclusion is that in a situation like this, whoever is "inside," at the core, must work 10 or 15 times harder in order to achieve something. 

In plague-stricken places, one who has recovered must take care of an entire city. 

In a city of the blind, a person with one eye is king.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From as essay, "One Step Forward" by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
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Scholar-in-Residence

Congregation Beth Tefillah

106636 N. 71st Way

Scottsdale , AZ 85254

Call for details: 310-466-1233

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8:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Project Identity

c/o Young Israel of Great Neck

"Four Talmudic Sages"

Call for details: 516-829-6040

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116 Johnson Road
Falls Village, CT 06031

 

Tuesday 1:45 PM and Tuesday 10:00 AM: two classes

(topics to be announced)

Wednesday evening: "Searching for God in a Magic Shop"

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Scholar-in-Residence Shabbaton

"Jewish Genealogy"
"Kabbalah: An Introduction"
"Searching for God in a Magic Shop"

Beth Sholom B'nai Israel
400 Middle Turnpike East
Manchester, CT 06040

(860) 643-9563

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8:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Project Identity

c/o Young Israel of Great Neck

"Four Chasidic Rebbes"

Call for details: 516-829-6040

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Atria of Roslyn
Roslyn, N.Y.

11:00 to 12 Noon

(for residents only)

]]> http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/26-february-2012/feed/ 0 “If you ever held a grenade after releasing its pin, you know exactly how precious time is” http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/if-you-ever-held-a-grenade-after-releasing-its-pin-you-know-exactly-how-precious-time-is/ http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/if-you-ever-held-a-grenade-after-releasing-its-pin-you-know-exactly-how-precious-time-is/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:02:09 +0000 Arthur Kurzweil http://arthurkurzweil.com/?p=3955  

Recently Rabbi Steinsaltz was asked: If you could give just one piece of advice to our generation’s youth, what would it be?
 
Rabbi Steinsaltz replied:

Run faster and harder every day, to make your world a better place. 

You see, we cannot change the world alone, but we can make it better. 

When I die, I really do not care about what will be engraved on my tombstone. 

That will be my children’s headache. 

But the question I will ask myself is: “Have I left this world in a better state than the state it was in when I found it?” 

By running faster and working harder today more than yesterday, we have a good shot at leaving the world in a better state than when we found it.

The problem is that when people are young, they are anxious and eager to act. 

But when they get older, they become calm and much less eager to take risks and act. 

Not because the desire to act has vanished, but because we become wiser through our personal experiences. 

This wiser perspective decreases our audacity to act, because we are then fully aware of the dangerous consequences that our actions entail. 

So, unfortunately, we stop acting altogether.  

But I personally never agreed with this approach. 

It does not work for me. 

As I get older, I become more and more anxious, and increasingly eager to act. 

For I now realize that my time in this world is more limited and I still have so many more things that I would like to accomplish.

If you ever held a grenade after releasing its pin, you know exactly how precious time is. 

At that point, it will only take 7 seconds for the grenade to explode, and you then fully understand the value of each and every second.

The older I get the more I learn the value of the time that elapses, just like a grenade holder. 

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
As shared with me by my good friend, Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Congregation Beth Tefillah, Scottsdale, AZ
]]> http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/if-you-ever-held-a-grenade-after-releasing-its-pin-you-know-exactly-how-precious-time-is/feed/ 0 “We want our children to be better than us” http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/we-want-our-children-to-be-better-than-us/ http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/we-want-our-children-to-be-better-than-us/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:02:10 +0000 Arthur Kurzweil http://arthurkurzweil.com/?p=3953  

In mathematics, the letter “t” stands for time, and in the realm of mathematics, t = 0, because mathematics disregards time. 

It is of no importance to it. 

In science, “t = -1 (minus one)” because science focuses on exploring the past and the world that was. 

But Judaism’s formula, in my eyes, is “t = +1 (plus one)”. 

In Judaism, we look forward. 

We want every generation to do better. 

For example, we want our children to be better than us. 

I do not think that anyone will argue with this, even in the competitive world we are living in today.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
As shared with me by my good friend, Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Congregation Beth Tefillah, Scottsdale, AZ
]]> http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/we-want-our-children-to-be-better-than-us/feed/ 0 “Every nook and cranny in the Jew’s life is surrounded by commandments, and the Jew is obligated to fulfill them at each and every moment” http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/every-nook-and-cranny-in-the-jews-life-is-surrounded-by-commandments-and-the-jew-is-obligated-to-fulfill-them-at-each-and-every-moment/ http://arthurkurzweil.com/2012/02/every-nook-and-cranny-in-the-jews-life-is-surrounded-by-commandments-and-the-jew-is-obligated-to-fulfill-them-at-each-and-every-moment/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:02:12 +0000 Arthur Kurzweil http://arthurkurzweil.com/?p=3951  

From the human point of view, life is but life, its main goal being life itself. 

Religious Jewish life, however, is not "just life;" it contains certain goals and missions. 

According to this view, living well means fulfilling life's mission. 

This mission contains many parts and details, yet its essence is to perfect the body, the soul and the world, in the framework of an ongoing relationship with God. 

This mission is to be fulfilled not at a certain age or life-period, but rather in each and every part of life, and in any situation in which one finds oneself.

Indeed, the system of commandments, in its entirety, shows that there is nothing, either in time or place, that does not somehow pertain to worshipping the Almighty and to the aspiration to perfect the soul and elevate the world. 

Every nook and cranny in the Jew's life is surrounded by commandments, and the Jew is obligated to fulfill them at each and every moment. 

So long as he does so properly, he fulfills life's aim. 

True, everything has its own proper time and age; yet in no time and age is one exempt from God's worship. 

In every age, one has different roles, according to his strength and ability at that specific age and situation. 

And just as there are special functions for the young adult, so there are other roles that one is bound to fulfill as one progresses along the course of life.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From the essay "From Childhood to Old Age: The Inner Aspect of Education" by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
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