Amidst all the tension I went to hear a comic yesterday. His monologue describes his three conversions, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox, followed by a aliyah to Israel. It is a hysterical act and does exemplify the many bizarre stories you run into here in the German Colony and Baka where many American Jews have settled. The comic is Yisrael Campbell.
He had a couple of good lines I will repeat: "It does not matter which denomination you belong to as long as you are ashamed of it." "I did not want to go to hell, so I changed my religion." His stories were hysterical.
He had a good quote from Heschel
When a Jew is in pain, he cries.
When he is in more pain, he is silent.
When he has even more pain, he sings.
In the morning we had a magisterial session on the quality of humility by the scholar, Moshe Halbertal. He compared Aristotles depiction of honor and humility with Maimonides (12th century, Egypt) and the writings of Moshe Hayim Luzzato (17th century, Italy). The lesson was a window into the great cultural divides within Judaism and also between Judaism and the Hellenistic tradition. The session also reminded me of the choices we have as parents and educators in how we convey the value of modesty and honor and how difficult it is in our times to model a spiritual cultivation of humility. Great stuff!!
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1 comment:
This is a very humourous blog for me, the jokes of which I thoroughly enjoyed - especially the one about being ashamed! ... Thank you very much.
David
7/26/06
(This comment has been transferred from the old blog site to this new blog site.)
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