Devarim

Although it’s natural to dislike criticism, a growth-oriented person will come to appreciate and value it.

You can’t move up the ladder by yearning for a life of ease. And so, while our forefathers and mothers didn’t have easy lives, they had profoundly meaningful and spiritual lives—lives that charted our very course and destiny, and whose qualities are embedded in our spiritual DNA.

Stories connect us to value systems, a larger self and universal truth.

The second level emerges when Torah becomes not just an acquisition of knowledge and a subject-object encounter—an “I” facing “it”—but a personal meeting place, an “I” facing “you,” or better yet, a “we” relationship . . .

How often does this play out in our lives. Life is disappointing or frightening, and we immediately point the finger at G‑d: You hate me, even though I have nothing against You!

This past week, my youngest daughter left for a full month of camp for the first time.

We live in this world and must learn to adapt to it. Only through playing by its rules can we be successful.