Dreaming Caps

Acts of Kindness (3): Looking Ahead

So for the past 3 sections, we've been focused on one prayer:

These are the precepts for which a person is rewarded in this world and whose principal reward is preserved for him/her in the World-to-Come. They are:

honoring one's father and mother;

performing deeds of kindness;

early attendance at the House of Study morning and evening;

providing hospitality to guests;

visiting the sick;

participating in making a wedding;

accompanying the dead [to the grave];

concentrating on the meaning of prayers;

bringing peace between fellow men;

and the study of Torah is equal to them all.

We've considered this prayer in our personal histories, we've considered how we work to fulfill these individual mitzvot in our lives now, and now we get to put on our dreaming hats again and think about the future.

I definitely want to work on honoring my mom and dad. I took a class on this last year and I know, both from experience and from what I learned in the class, that this is one of the hardest mitzvot to do well. 

I definitely want to be better at receiving guests. I've always been better at sleeping over at someone else's house than having someone else sleep over at my own, not sure why but I should work on that.

I look forward to participating in my friends' weddings in the future. 

And of course, I'll always be sure to study a bissel Torah.

Three in One

This past week was crazy and this is the week before finals so please excuse my incredibly not-kept-up-with blog.

Day 114: The Nameless Person Behind the Counter

A few years ago as a young teenager, I went shopping with one of my friends. We didn't necessarily plan on buying anything as we didn't have a lot of money to spend, but we liked to try things on and show them to each other. As we were bringing a pile of clothes for each of us into the dressing rooms, we were yelled at by the woman who was in charge of cleaning out the dressing rooms from the clothing previous customers had tried on and left in there.

At the time, I was very hurt and offended by what she said to us. However, now I understand that it might not have been our fault, she may have been overworked, tired, or possibly forgotten as "that person behind the counter." If my friend and I had taken a step back [or read this book], we would have realized that to act as though we had the intention of buying clothing was misleading or may have been a less than positive action to carry out in front of someone who doesn't get a lot of credit for the work they do. She's a person too.

Day 115: Acts of Kindness (1): Looking Backward

Every morning in my minyan back in high school, I had a favorite section of our opening prayers:

These are the precepts for which a person is rewarded in this world and whose principal reward is preserved for him/her in the World-to-Come. They are:

honoring one's father and mother;

performing deeds of kindness;

early attendance at the House of Study morning and evening;

providing hospitality to guests;

visiting the sick;

participating in making a wedding;

accompanying the dead [to the grave];

concentrating on the meaning of prayers;

bringing peace between fellow men;

and the study of Torah is equal to them all.

It was suggested in today's section that we take a moment to think about these instances separately by choosing a single moment when we fulfilled each one and reflect on our individual experiences fulfilling each one; how did I feel?

• Honoring one's father and mother: there isn't one instance I can think of, I try to honor my parents by calling them a few times a week and working hard in school to show my appreciation for their generosity in paying tuition.
• Performing deeds of kindness: last week, one of my teachers entered our lecture hall on crutches. Without thinking about it, I brought her a chair from the back of the room. People kept saying "aww" and things of that nature but I wasn't really interested in their reactions, I more felt like I'd done something that needed doing and helped my teacher to feel more comfortable.
• Early attendance at the House of Study morning and evening: it's been a while since I had this opportunity, but I was always in Talmud class early!
• Providing hospitality to guests: when there are people at my house for any reason, I try my best to talk to each individual one.
• Visiting the sick: when my great great aunt was in the hospital, we went to visit her every other day or something along those lines. I felt uneasy but hoped she felt better after seeing us.
• Participating in making a wedding: my cousin asked me to be a junior bridesmaid in her wedding, that was fun. I was honored, and I got a pretty dress so I was happy.
• Accompanying the dead to the grave: this year I've attended 2 separate burials. I'd rather not talk about this here.
• Concentrating on the meaning of prayers: every week for Kabbalat Shabbat, my favorite service, I read the English interpretations as we move through the prayers because I think they're so beautiful.
• Bringing peace between fellow men: I have a friend who tends to have changes in mood very frequently. When she is angry, I try to give her perspectives so she might know what others are thinking
• Torah study: I try. Really.

Day 116: Acts of Kindness (2): Looking Ahead

I should really choose at least two of the ones above and carry them out today. I'll let you know how it goes on Thursday night.

Nice Catch

Well...I HAD planned to write last night but due to late bedtimes and friends who mysteriously disappeared and reappeared, that didn't happen.

Anyway, this week was a weird mix of stressful and not stressful. I've got a lot of final essays and presentations and exams to prepare for but I've had some free time since none of it is immediately due. I'm just looking forward to getting home and having a bit of down time whether that's alone time or not doesn't really matter at this point, I just want to finish the year.

Day 112: Shabbat

• When Is the Best Time to Repent?: N/A
• Acknowledge Your Sin and Accept Responsibility: N/A
• Ask for Forgiveness Even When You're Not Fully in the Wrong: N/A
• Tipping Even Those Whose Faces You Don't See: To what extent does this mean we should tip people? Who else do we not see who deserves our appreciation?
• What If You Could Read Your Obituary Today?: N/A
• The Infinite Ways of Doing Good: N/A

Day 113: "You Shall Not Place a Stumbling Block"

I feel like this time of year for students can be summed up by "you shall not place a stumbling block before the blind." Just when you think your paper should only be 4 pages, you suddenly find out it's 6; just when you think your final project is due next week, turns out it's due the day before you go home; just when you think you have a test on Monday, it turns out that you don't and you should've done your cramming Tuesday night for your Wednesday morning exam.

But anyway, this isn't just about being faked out, or a college student,...or both for that matter. This is also about veahavta leree'acha kamocha, loving your neighbor as you love yourself. If you're in this situation (looking at you teachers and professors), you should "ask yourself the following: 'If the situation were reversed, and the person with whom I am dealing acted toward me in the manner I am now acting toward him, would I feel that I had been wronged?'"

[Delayed Response]

Gah! I'm sorry! I've been going to bed so late that I haven't wanted to stay up to write because I've been so exhausted. So here's the game plan, since I have a longer break between my classes today (because I totally rocked my child development test), I'll catch up for the last 2 days now and I'll do today's post later tonight. Ok, good plan.

Day 110: What If You Could Read Your Obituary Today?

How impossibly morbid. This isn't meant to be morbid though, it's supposed to be a wake-up call. How would we be remembered if, G-d forbid, we were to die soon?

Since my family has recently had the misfortune of experiencing the deaths of two loved ones, death has been on my mind a lot. Not in a dangerous-to-myself kind of way, but in an existential kind of way.

Instead of thinking about what would be said in my obituary, I tend to think about who would attend my funeral or who would eulogize me, what they would say...

Now, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, there's a nice breeze out, and I totally just rocked a test, so I'm not going to think about death right now...

Day 111: The Infinite Ways of Doing Good

People need endlessly and every need is different. What I take for granted every day, others might be lacking. That's why it's amazing to hear about organizations that benefit specific causes that people rarely stop to think about.

One such project is growing in popularity on my campus. A group of students has established a club that helps elementary school students in New Jersey publish their own short stories in an anthology. These anthologies are then translated into Rwandan languages and taken by the college students to Rwanda to communities where education is wanted, but supplies are lacking. Both the versions in Rwandan and English are brought so literacy comes in two languages to these eager students.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."-Anne Frank

Now You See Me

Day 109: Tipping Even Those Whose Faces You Don't See

I always have trouble doing the math for tipping when I go out to eat or when I order food to my dorm room. I try to give too much rather than too little because I'd rather be seen as generous than stingy. However, (not that I've ever stayed in a hotel room alone) it never occurs to  me to tip housekeepers. They provide us with the comfort of a clean room and I think one day, I'll thank those who do that for me with a nice little note and a little tip.

Forgive and Attempt to Forget

Day 107: Acknowledge Your Sin and Accept Responsibility 

The Blame Game: it has a nice ring to it but it wrecks your credibility. If you continuously blame your errors on other people or circumstances, you never accept responsibility or own up to what you've done. This is called hakarat hachet, recognizing your sin (unlike Adam when he blamed Eve and Eve when she blamed the snake).

The exercise suggested for today was to "sit down alone and see if you can think of two things you have done in your lief, or are now doing, that you know are unfair and wrong. Even if you are not yet ready to undo the wrongs you have committed (if, indeed, it is possible to undo them fully), at least recognize your guilt [...]." Now, I've been thinking about mine but they aren't things I'm comfortable sharing. I strongly encourage others to try this, it's very revealing.

Day 108: Ask for Forgiveness Even When You're Not Fully in the Wrong

Oh! I've totally got a story to share! Earlier this year, I made some mistakes with a friend, but of course he made them too and between the both of us, we had a horrible friendship. We stopped talking for a couple months and then the guilt began to eat at me. I knew he was in the wrong too but I at least had to clear my own conscience, so I apologized to him. He forgave me though he did not acknowledge any fault of his own. Now, we are able to be in the same room at the same time without throwing fits or feeling awkward.

Reflections and...well, Reflections

Day 105: Shabbat

It's been a stressful week but it ended really nicely, I got to reconnect with my roommate and relax tonight. I know we both really need this. Plus, our Van Gogh puzzle is coming along really nicely!

• Pray for Someone Else Today: I realize now that I'm very perceptive about how other people think or feel and it's really helped me be successful in praying for the benefit of other people. I've successfully incorporated this into most of my nightly prayers in the last week and I look forward to continuing this.
• Raising Your Child to Be a Mensch: N/A
• The Questions All Parents Should Ask Themselves: N/A
• "Just as Theft of Money Is Theft, So Is Theft of Time": N/A
• What It Means to Sanctify God's Name: (see the next bullet point) 
• The Special Obligation of Religions Jews to Sanctify God's Name: I was talking to my rebbetzin today who is in kiruv on our campus. She dresses modestly as a religiously observant female Jew would. She covers her hair with a scarf and always wears long skirts and sleeves. She was saying that she tries to avoid jaywalking because she is so visible as a Jew and dressing as a Jew is a big responsibility. She said the same about wearing a Star of David around my neck which I did today in honor of Yom HaShoah. I agree wholeheartedly.

Day 106: When Is the Best Time to Repent?

According to the sages? The day before you die. How do we know when we will die? We don't, so we must begin to repent every day.

Rabbi Telushkin suggested reviewing our day to see how we can improve: what did we do that was annoying or wrong? What did we do that was honest or kind? So now I get to be vulnerable and walk through my day and think about what I've done (the negative things are in red, the positive things are in green):

• got distracted in class
• realized the hard way that I didn't practice my presentation enough
• took a lunch break and some time for me
• didn't do any homework (but don't freak out, I have nothing due tomorrow)
• reconnected with my roommate
• didn't really socialize with others on my floor
• helped my rebbetzin prepare for Shabbas and discussed private stuff with her
• tried my best to observe Yom HaShoah and connect with my memories of last year's trip

I'd like to be able to say that I won't do those things in red again but they are human nature and that is going to take a while to correct. I can definitely say that I can easily correct my not practicing enough and my not socializing, but I think in my defense it's also important to realize that sometimes "me" time is also important. Oh well, this has been a helpful reflecting tool. Maybe you want to try too?

Sanctify and Set an Example

Day 104: The Special Obligation of Religious Jews to Sanctify God's Name

This year, I've made a lot of nonJewish friends. This area of the country tends to be predominantly Christian so when my new friends found out I'm Jewish, I heard a lot of things like this: "oh! There was a Jew at my school but he was weird", "oh! There was a Jew at my school but I hated her", and "yeah, you look Jewish." Now, let's be honest: none of these things feel too good to hear or to reread.

But on the other hand, I can't blame them. If they've only met one Jew, they're probably basing all their assumptions about Jews on that one person. The rest of us do that with other racial or ethnic groups, and we're included in that.

[And to emulate Tevye] on the other hand, we have been called "the chosen people", shouldn't we be setting examples on how to act and how to live? Don't we want to be the good people others emulate when they want to be morally and ethically right? This is our obligation to sanctify God's name: "bring honor to yourself, the Jewish people, and God" (148),

Lastly, I wrote this last year after visiting the Warsaw Cemetery and the Lupocova Forest. It's a piece I'm incredibly proud of and I want to share my thoughts and feelings with anyone else. I'll paste the text of my poem underneath this entry, but it can also be found here: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/reaction-to-the-warsaw-cemetery/ I hope everyone has a meaningful Yom HaShoah.

Dear ghost,
Do you still shudder when you hear the sound of boots?
Do you see my tears when I cry for you?
Do you hear us tell your story?
We remember you.
Dear ghost,
Did you know we believe in the same God?
We still light fire on Friday night,
Maybe to chase away the darkness of your time.
Dear ghost,
Have you come out of hiding?
I saw your picture once in a museum;
It was unlabeled.
Dear ghost,
I know you have a name.
It must have been whispered by the
angel as he took your soul with him.
Dear ghost, dear brother,
Would we have been friends?
I want to know your name.
Dear ghost,
Did you listen this year? Did you listen to the blast of the shofar?
Did we stand together at Har Sinai?
Have I met you before?
Ghost?
Did you hide your eyes when they beat him to death?
Humiliated him.
Your own rebbe.
Did you mourn for him?
Did you have time
Before you had to run?
Do you miss Anatevka?
Dear ghost,
I visited your grave.
Dear,
There was no name.
It was unlabeled.
You must have been buried with your brethren.
You will never be alone,
Friend.
Dear ghost,
What's your name?

Dear ghost,
Grass now grows on top of you.
Dear ghost,
Did you try to run? To hide as they slaughtered your family
Your friends
Everyone you knew?
Dear ghost,
Did you raise your voice in praise in the building with the beautiful walls?
Dear ghost,
I walked today through a forest.
Your forest.
I stepped on twigs and leaves
But it felt as though I was crushing your body with every step I took.
Dear ghost,
What was the last thing you saw
Before your world was painted red with your blood, your family's blood,
Your friends' blood,
The blood of everyone you knew.

Late Night Thoughts

Day 103: What It Means to Sanctify God's Name

There must be a hundred different ways to be a good person. Sitting here right now even at 1 in the morning, I can think of at least ten (which is impressive because I'm dog tired). But out of all the ways to be good, there is only one that shows how truly we are sanctifying God's name: honesty.

Honesty is the basis for everything:

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people. -Dennis Prager

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. -Thomas Jefferson
Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil; the devil was a liar from the beginning. -Joseph B. Wirthlin

Working backwards:

I really just like Wirthlin's quote, that's all.

Jefferson's quote is self-explanatory, just let yourself marinade in his words for a little while and you'll already have a better understanding of the true wisdom that honesty breeds.

Prager's quote is the one I'm most interested in. He points out that honesty is a reflection of the goodness of our characters. He says that goodness is all about our interactions with others. Well think about it: we were all created in God's image, true? True. If we can't be honest, kind, generous, etc. with our peers (who embody part of God Himself or at least His angels), how can we be trusted in keeping God's commandments?

Stealing Time

Day 102: "Just as Theft of Money Is Theft, So Is Theft of Time"

We all have that one friend who makes plans to meet us for lunch at noon and doesn't show up until 12:30 or 1. And we understand that it's fine if someone got stuck in traffic or if something held them back at home, but if this is a habit, then we are actually considered to be stealing time from others.

Rabbi Teluskhin relays a story about the Chazon Ish in which the Chazon Ish gathered a minyan for mincha. One of the men told him that he had an appointment soon and the Chazon Ish sent him on his way saying that one may not pray on stolen time.

Chag+Shabbas=Chagbas

Day 98: Shabbat

This week was wonderful. My friend came and spent the last few days of Passover with me and I got to show her why I love my school so much. Now that chag is over and she's back home, I have time to reflect on my week!

• Spend a Week Following Your Heart: I realized that I have a friend who truly embodies this. As I spent time with him over Shabbas, I began to respect both him and his decision more and more. Here at university, he's majored in neuroscience and also kept up with his study of music. After a heart to heart with his parents, he's decided to pursue music as a career rather than neuroscience. Now there's heart.
• Don't Make Unrealistic Demands of People: Going to want to remember this when I'm a teacher.
• A Jewish View of Hunting: N/A
• Feed Your Animals Before Yourself: N/A
• Don't Spread Negative, but Irrelevant, Information About Someone You Dislike: N/A
• Don't Humiliate an Enemy: N/A

Day 99: Pray for Someone Else Today

Every night before bed, I say the shema and then I talk to G-d a little bit. I thank him for everything good and everything bad because both make me who I am. I pray for the well being of my friends and family and whatever else really comes to mind. There's one other thing I've started doing too: two of my best friends are in serious relationships while I am not. I've started praying that they are happy in their relationships and that their partners treat them well and are treated well.

Without knowing it, I've taken the advice of Yitro who offered a prayer to G-d (Exodus 18:10). Instead of thanking G-d for what He had done for him, Yitro thanked G-d for what He had done for someone else.

I wanted to take this a step further and be consciously doing this during my nighttime prayers. So now, I've started praying that my friends get the internships or jobs they want for the summer even if I don't get the ones I want; I've started praying for my friends' tests or presentations to go well. It's a small step but it actually is the most fulfilling small step I've taken in a while.

Day 100: Raising Your Child to Be a Mensch

I'm not yet a parent....I've got a while but I can't be the only one who has ever thought of things I might one day want to do with my kids.

It's easy to look around nowadays and point out all the parenting styles we don't like and the kids who reflect their parents. But just for now, I get to idealize what my family life will look like and there's something I've always wanted to do. 

I want my kids to know the value of a dollar. Not just that a dollar equals a hundred cents or ten dimes or any of that, but that a dollar is earned and can also be stretched. When my children are young (maybe starting at age 7), I'd like to start by giving them four quarters a week. They'll put 2 quarters in savings, 1 quarter in spending, and the last quarter they'll save for Erev Shabbat and it'll go in our tzedaka box. At the end of each year before Rosh Hashana, I want to decide as a family where the money in our tzedaka box will go. That's one way I'd like to teach my kids to be menschs.

Day 101: The Questions All Parents Should Ask Themselves

Rabbi Telushkin really pushes Dennis Prager's point here: it is necessary to reflect on how we raise our children. We should consider how much time we take in cultivating their ethics and teaching them the basics of being good.

Karma

Day 97: Don't Humiliate an Enemy

We all get mad sometimes. You better accept that as a fact. We get mad at someone because they did something and it hurt someone else. We want to take all our anger out on that person...but we shouldn't.

There's someone in this world that you really don't like and I'm sure at one point you wished for them the worst. Did you refrain? Did you feel better?

IF YOU REFRAINED: kudos to you for not burning all the pictures of you together or untagging all the pictures you're in together on Facebook. You've remained dignified and respected. We're all proud of you. You're the bigger person.

IF YOU DIDN'T REFRAIN: rethink your priorities. By humiliating your enemy, you humiliated yourself.

Negative Nelly

Day 96: Don't Spread Negative, but Irrelevant, Information About Someone You Dislike

I'm on the path to becoming a better person and, in most ways, a more religiously observant person. I'd argue that most of us are on the path to becoming better versions of ourselves. In some capacity then, we are all baalei teshuvah. 

Think down the road to the you that you want to be. Since I don't know who you want to be, I'll use myself as an example. In the future I imagine that I am more observant. I notice people's reactions to me and take into account what I should do to make that person more comfortable immediately. I don't want to be reminded of the time I accidentally blocked my friends view to the movie she was watching while I took my time unloading food for Passover from my suitcase and talking to my other friends.

If that friend were to dislike me and randomly spread around that I blocked her and was being inconsiderate, she would be acting uncivilly and I would be attacked and embarrassed. Those emotions have no place here. Keep it relevant and remember to be fair to your enemy (see a previous day).

Buddy Breakfast

Day 95: Feed Your Animals Before Yourself

My fish died when I was in the 4th grade. Poor S.B.J. died before I left for shul on Shabbat. That was the only time [thankfully] I ever said kaddish. I loved my fish, I would watch him swim around, I decorated his cookie jar fish tank, I fed him...maybe too much...I really loved having a pet to take care of. Every morning, I'd greet my dad at the breakfast table and then go feed S.B.J. before sitting down to eat my own breakfast. Apparently I was doing it right.

An animal has urges, feelings, and emotions it can't express to humans. They hunger and thirst and need to relieve themselves. They accomplish all of this without speaking a language that humans can use to communicate. As horrible as it may sound, a baby is kind of like an animal. Of course developmentally and biologically we know this isn't true, but babies have no way of verbally expressing themselves to their parents. But no good parent would deprive their children of food, water or a diaper change.Why would we deny our pets any of these things? They too are living beings.

4 Days and 4 Fonts

Day 91: Shabbat

It was a stressful and rushed week but it was so nice to be home for both Seders with my family. 

• "Do Not Stand by While Your Neighbor's Blood Is Shed": The Requirement to Intervene: N/A

• When You Suspect Child Abuse: N/A

• Untamed Anger and the Death of Love: I found it really interesting to tie this value into the values we read earlier this year about how to argue with someone (e.g. keep your arguments relevant).

• Be Fair To Your Enemy: N/A

• Don't Make People Tell You Lies: This is going to take a lot of practice but I'm already getting better at it.

• "He Who Saves a Single Life It Is as If He Saved an Entire World": N/A

Day 92: Spend a Week Following Your Heart

Disney's been really good at telling us to follow our hearts and pursue our dreams. It's cute, romanticized, Hollywood. But I'll bet you never considered the ways in which being true to your heart was actually Jewish.

Go to Psalms 15:2 for a moment (thanks to Mechon Mamre for both text and interpretation): 

א  מִזְמוֹר, לְדָוִד:    יְהוָה, מִי-יָגוּר בְּאָהֳלֶךָ; מִי-יִשְׁכֹּן, בְּהַר קָדְשֶׁךָ.	1 A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell upon Thy holy mountain?
ב  הוֹלֵךְ תָּמִים, וּפֹעֵל צֶדֶק;    וְדֹבֵר אֱמֶת, בִּלְבָבוֹ.	2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh truth in his heart;
ג  לֹא-רָגַל, עַל-לְשֹׁנוֹ--לֹא-עָשָׂה לְרֵעֵהוּ רָעָה;    וְחֶרְפָּה, לֹא-נָשָׂא עַל-קְרֹבוֹ.	3 That hath no slander upon his tongue, nor doeth evil to his fellow, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour;
ד  נִבְזֶה, בְּעֵינָיו נִמְאָס--    וְאֶת-יִרְאֵי יְהוָה יְכַבֵּד; נִשְׁבַּע לְהָרַע,    וְלֹא יָמִר.	4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honoureth them that fear the LORD;{N} he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not;
ה  כַּסְפּוֹ, לֹא-נָתַן בְּנֶשֶׁךְ--    וְשֹׁחַד עַל-נָקִי, לֹא לָקָח: עֹשֵׂה-אֵלֶּה--    לֹא יִמּוֹט לְעוֹלָם.	5 He that putteth not out his money on interest, nor taketh a bribe against the innocent.{N} He that doeth these things shall never be moved. {P}

So in short, who is worthy of living on God's holy mountain? Someone who doesn't charge interest, take bribes, doesn't slander and someone who follows their heart. Rashi explains that this means that a person who follows his heart is someone who is not a hypocrite. He doesn't think one thing and say another.

Day 93: Don't Make Unrealistic Demands of People

So there's a rather popular expression in our world: if you want something done right, do it yourself. Sure you might do it best, that could be because you were expecting the other person to do it exactly the way you do it (the right way) and were, therefore disappointed when they didn't. You can't expect someone to do something the way you do without them being you. If that didn't make sense it's because I've been traveling all day...

Day 94: A Jewish View of Hunting

Within my first few months at college, I made many non-Jewish friends. One of these friends grew up in a country household where his father-son bonding activity is hunting. He described to me how he and his father would sometimes shoot deer but would mostly shoot squirrels, and sometimes they'd cook the meat and eat the squirrels as a meal. 

This, in its lack of Kashrut and appeal, is foreign to me. Beyond foreign actually. I have no other friends who hunt. I have many friends who fish but they fish for kosher fish and then eat the fish for dinner, or they catch what they catch but they don't keep their fish. I'd like to refer back to what I read of Rabbi Ezekial Landau's responsa:

How can a Jew kill a living thing without any benefit to anyone and engage in hunting merely to satisfy ‘the enjoyable use of his time’? For according to the Talmud, it is permitted to slay wild animals only when they invade human settlements, but to pursue them in the woods, their own dwelling place, when they are not invading human habitations, is prohibited. Such pursuit simply means following the desires of one's heart.

In the case of one who needs to do this and who derives his livelihood from hunting (e.g., one who deals with furs and skins), we would not say that hunting is necessarily cruel, as we slaughter cattle and birds and fish for the needs of man....But for one whose hunting has nothing to do with earning his livelihood, this is sheer cruelty.

"My ancestors did not belong to the hunters as much as to the hunted, and the idea of attacking the descendants of those ho were our comrades in misery goes against my grain."-Heinrich Heine

I'm a Planet

Day 90: "He Who Saves a Single Life It Is as If He Saved an Entire World"

I'm still a teenager. I've been a teenager for a few years now and if I know anything, I can tell you the following: you will meet someone in your life (if you haven't already) who hates himself or his life to an extreme. He is depressed. He feels alone, unwanted, used, paranoid. Things no one wants to feel. He comes to you to vent. You need to talk back. You don't know if something you say can change his mind. But if you could save his life, wouldn't you?

I've been in this position more than I'd like to admit, I've been the one calming my friends down, reminding them they are loved and that they at least have me to vent to. I tell them I'd miss them if they were gone, I tell them they've impacted me. None of these things are false.

I started helping people who felt this way before I'd heard this quote from Sanhedrin, but as soon as I heard it, I felt as if I'd done a million things right in my life. Please, please save our world. Our world houses billions of what Judaism calls worlds. We ourselves are worlds: we have peaks and valleys, rain and sunshine, we have continents and oceans all within us. We should remember to save the beauty that is the world of someone else.

Stay Away

Day 89: Don't Make People Tell You Lies

A few weeks ago, we read about staying far away from falsehood. I've really taken that to heart. I don't want to be a liar. I'll say something vague that's still true but I very seldomly lie anymore.

Today, I learned about continuing on my path of staying far from falsehood. Not telling lies yourself is a big step, but we have to remember not to make other people lie. We shouldn't be asking people to lie for us and we shouldn't be asking people to divulge a quiet conversation they're having with someone else. It's quiet because they don't want us to know, so they'll lie about the topic they were discussing.

Being honest encompasses these two categories. They're hard to master, if one can even master them, but I'd like to try. It only takes self control, right?