of a son
Internal obstacles to writing this entry I've been thinking of writing an ethical will entry on education for some time now, but it's been challenging for me to begin. For me, there are three obstacles: The strong personal association I draw between Judaism and placing a high value on education, which I worry may come… Continue reading Ethical will: Education
In composing my ethical will, I usually find myself resistant to including entries that should, according to my sensibilities, be self-evident. That's not to say that I personally exemplify any of these self-evidently positive traits; rather, it is to say that I wish I did. On the other hand, my ethical will is, by default,… Continue reading Ethical will: Loving-kindness
The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God's image in someone who is not in my image, whose language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image- Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l, 1948-2020
My father z"l identified as a non-religious Jew, à la the Israeli paradigm of religious identity (as does my mother), but this bears clarification. Babushka z"l (my mother's mother) described my parents as "religious," which both would consider amusing. I spoke with my Babushka nearly every day for years, and she often voiced this. According to her, my wife and… Continue reading The skeptic’s kaddish for the atheist, 10
