- Seth Mandell
'Who is rich? One who is happy with his lot´ Pirke Avot 4:1
According to many commentators, the Mishna quoted above tells us that both material wealth and personal happiness depend on our perspective, on choosing to "be happy with our lot."
(The Hebrew word for wealth òùø is almost identical to the Hebrew for word happiness àùø.)
- Sherri Mandell The Release of Terrorists
For many Israelis the return of Gilad Shalit was a cause for unbridled celebration. For others, joy was tempered by the heavy price. But for many of the bereaved mothers, fathers and children served by the Koby Mandell Foundation, the prisoner release caused additional suffering. The released killers had murdered their children, fathers, mothers and siblings.
- Seth Mandell
YOM KIPPUR
It is some thirty years ago and I am a single man studying full time in a Jerusalem Yeshiva. Yom Kippur this year is the culmination of forty days of personal preparation, study, spiritual reflection, prayer and self examination.
- Seth Mandell
Rosh Hashana 5772
During the month of Elul through Rosh Hashana, Jewish tradition encourages us to examine our actions. Most of us review our conduct during the previous year and identify the areas where we fell short of being our best selves.
Here's another approach.
- Sherri Mandell
Walking Sticks
Alan Rabinowitz, our guide for Kilometers for Koby, and Seth and I are checking out the trial in preparation for this May's Koby Mandell Foundation fundraising hike. When we get to the trailhead, Seth and I realize that we have forgotten our walking poles.
- Sherri Mandell
Forgiveness
On the eve of 9/11, it's important to understand the Jewish view of forgiveness.
We get the following question almost every time we speak.
"What happened to your son's murderers?"
"They weren't caught."
"And do you forgive them?"
- Seth Mandell
Getting to Yes
After the death of King Solomon the 10 Israelite tribes of Northern Israel broke with his son and rightful heir and drafted Jeroboam Ben Navat to be their king.
- Seth Mandell
Choose Life
"We have men who have divorced themselves from life and love death more than you love life, and killing is one of their wishes," Al Qaida spokesman quoted in the New York Times
- Sherri Mandell
Camp Koby in Action
Yechiam means my people live, and here on this kibbutz lives the incredible spirit of the bereaved children of Camp Koby.
Yesterday, Yael, the nature therapist, worked with 7 and 8 year old boys. After a series of fun activities where the boys made the sounds of animals, they created plays about animals. When asked them what they wanted to do next time. They answered
- Sherri Mandell
A Therapeutic Encounter at Camp Koby
One of the young campers hit his head and knocked himself out for a minute or two. (He was fully recovered an hour later.) The boy lay out on the grass with his eyes closed. A camper named Moti passed by with his counselor and got upset, seeing the boy.
- Sherri Mandell
A Camp Koby Story
After I shared Koby's story with a group of elementary school girls at Camp Koby I was surrounded by 5 eight year old girls who wanted to tell me their stories.
- Seth Mandell
The Hurricane
My friend "Hurricane" Abramson, poet, musician , amateur boxer and proud Jew died this week on the Yahrtzeit of the Lubuvitcher Rebbe. Hurricane, who became an observant Jew in middle age, used to say, "If I can do it, anybody can." His son Harpo, a 50 year old who also died recently used to say of the illness his father fought for a decade. "It can kill my father but it'll never defeat him."
- Sherri Mandell
Angels
In Judaism, there is a midrash that explains that each blade of grass has an angel telling it to grow. All of us want to grow but sometimes we don't know how or in which direction.
As we plan for the 450 children who will attend Camp Koby this summer, we know that the camp will offer them a safe place to grow. Grief can paralyze a child when he feels there is no where to turn and nothing to turn toward.
- Sherri Mandell
An Evil Report?
Twice a year, Avi Liberman, the brilliant comedian and organizer of Comedy for Koby, brings three top flight American comics to perform for English speaking Israelis.
Besides making us laugh (and raising money for the KMF), Avi intends for these tours to give the comedians an eye opening introduction to Israel.
- Seth Mandell
Shelach L'cha
A new idea in social science called the "argumentative theory of reasoning" posits that we don't use our reasoning powers to make better decisions, but rather to win arguments. When you're trying to win a debate, they say, the most effective technique is to appear to be absolutely certain and citing lots of reasons proves how sure you are.
- Sherri Mandell
The Gift
Shavuot is called Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah. Although the Midrash says that G-d held a mountain over the Jewish people and forced them to accept it - the Torah was referred to as a gift. But in our days G-d does not force us to accept divine gifts. Sometimes we don't even see them.
Being Alive
Sherwood Anderson wrote about moments of being alive to each other or as James Joyce would call it—moments of epiphany.
Last weeks' Kilometers for Koby 5 day Israel trail hike could be described as a series of epiphanies, as being alive; to our fellow hikers, to ourselves, to the wilderness around us, and to the Divine Presence of order and harmony.
Koby's Yahrzeit
Today, the 15th of Iyar, is the 10th anniversary of Koby's murder by Arab Terrorists.
This week I see one of Koby's friends. He's tall, thin with long hair, a beard and a big kippa. When Koby was killed they were both 13 and about the same size. Today he's 24 and a man. So I think about what Koby would be like now.
Koby's Yahrzeit
Today, the 15th of Iyar, is the 10th anniversary of Koby's murder by Arab Terrorists.
This week I see one of Koby's friends. He's tall, thin with long hair, a beard and a big kippa. When Koby was killed they were both 13 and about the same size. Today he's 24 and a man. So I think about what Koby would be like now.
The Day of Forgetting
For most everybody in Israel, last Monday was the day of remembering, Memorial Day, for Israel's soldiers and terror victims. For me, Monday was a day of forgetting (the title of a beautiful poem by Orna Kenig).
This year, the eve of Yom ha Zicharon coincided with the English date of Koby's murder. 10 years of remembering.
Precious Resources
Seth and I recently had dinner with a friend named Lee Lasher. Lee's company, Amlon Resources, trades recycled metals extracted from industrial waste.
Remembering
Passover is over. But every day our prayers still mention the Exodus from Egypt.
Why this emphasis on remembering the Exodus?
Perhaps because our collective memory of salvation forms us as a nation. It's what makes the Jewish people a family.
Freedom
Every Hebrew letter has an equivalent number. When the sum of the letters of two Hebrew words (the gematria) match each other, they are connected.
A Listening Heart
Last week Seth and I met with a woman who was born on the same day as the state of Israel. Her parents named her Medina (it means "state" in Hebrew). Medina is the Director of Public Relations for the David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem.
Metzora
Shimon Peres once famously said: "Good policy does not need hasbara (literally explanation but colloquially public relations) and for bad policy hasbara won't help. Words don't matter, he seems to say. Only actions matter.
Let's admit it: Many of us sometimes experience a delicious desire to speak badly about another. (I would love to speak badly about movie director, Julian Schnabel, this week, for example.)
But there is danger in doing so: In this week's Torah portion, speaking lashon ha ra causes a skin disease.
When Moshe tells Aaron that his sons Nadav and Avihu have died in the sanctuary, the text says, "And Aaron was silent." We want him to cry, to scream, to rage. Yet because of his silence, the next time G-d speaks, He speaks directly to him instead of to Moses, as has been customary.
I have nothing against tears and crying. Yet there is a beauty to silence.
The other day I decided to jog around Tekoa. There is a dirt security road encircling the community that looks out over Wadi Tekoa, the magnificent gorge
A month before my son's bar mitzvah, my friend Devorah made me a simcha notebook where she wrote down the numbers of plates, cups, napkins, and pieces of chicken, kilos
Tal Ben Shachar an Israeli born psychologist who teaches a course called "The Art of Happiness" to undergraduates at Harvard University has a five point plan for
Cake Judaism is a religion for adults—it requires a lot of work and thinking. Purim though, is different: it's a letting go--we don't have to be so adult. We wear costumes;
