Sublime

Jewish tradition teaches that after you have done new things consistently for a while, you begin to feel yourself becoming a different person.

Instead of immediately offering the most negative experience or challenge we are currently dealing with, try to mention something positive—at least as a starting point.

Surya Das, who looks 110 percent Jewish,

IN THE REBBE’S OFT-REPEATED words—paraphrasing the Mishnah408—”hamaaseh hu ha’ikar,” which means that the essential thing is the deed, not abstract study. Otherwise, teachings and words, no matter how beautiful, wise, or aesthetic, are devarim beteilim “empty expressions” and their

to be a Jew is to cry out, even when silence would be safer, easier, and more convenient.

The sages articulated a principle: “Where penitents stand even the perfectly righteous cannot stand” (Berakhot

Rabbi Greenberg explained that we lost 30 percent of the Jewish people during the war, but more than 80 percent of the scholars, mystics, and teachers who could pass on ancient traditions.

The source of our godliness, an array of Jewish sages teaches, is our capacity for kindness and generosity. Accordingly, our greatest desire should be to do good for others.

We cultivate the practice of responding to ourselves and others with compassion and kindness.