ב"ה
A recent New York Times article reported on a group of psychologists who are chaffing under what they call the "tyranny of the positive attitude." For several years now, positive thinking has been in vogue. But these good doctors are "worried that we're not making space for people to feel bad" and advocate a return to the psychologist's original role of "focusing on mental illness and human failing."
If the orbicular nature of the cultural trends in recent times is any indication, these guys are on to something big.
Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8 Week of September 10-16 
In this week's Torah reading: the connection between gratitude and fruit, the question of awareness versus acknowledgement, the effect of priorities and percentages, the polarity of reward and rebuke...
When we sleep, our internal "command-center" shifts from the mind to a deeper, darker place within our psyche. A place where fantasy supersedes logic, sense supplants thought, and conscious awareness is replaced by a more elemental form of knowing. Hard facts become pliant, absurdities become tenable, in this nocturnal world.
Like any small town, Safed has a few professional beggars. None of them are drunkards, thank G-d, or homeless, G-d forbid. They just beg for a living. It's their job, and they work hard at it. They keep regular hours, and each has his own territory. Some of them work for religious organizations, others are self-employed. They put out their hand, or an unlabelled plastic jar. It's the best bargain in the world, I figure--a blessing for a few cents.
In a faraway land lived three sisters whose mother had left them beautiful long and elegant dresses of fine and rare material. They cherished these dresses dearly until, one day, they heard that in America the style was to wear short skirts. Now their dresses no longer seemed so beautiful.
The oldest sister just kept on wearing the same old dresses. She usually wore a long overcoat or housecoat to hide them and stayed indoors.
You came to me unexpectedly. We never met. I have only seen your picture. And even that came long after I knew that we were bonded by an ancient bond, that there was a debt that I owed you, a debt that I must and will pay. How can one begin to fathom your life? Abandoned at birth by your parents. Placed in an institution mockingly called an orphanage. Caged. Strait jacketed. Forced for twelve years to crawl on hands and knees because a simple operation was denied you. You have never used a pencil or crayon. My G-d! You have never even seen a toy! |
 Rabbi Yosef Schanowitz wanted to get children more involved with shofar blowing, but there were no shofar manufacturers around to go to on a class trip. So it occurred to him that he could teach shofar-making in school. 
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