My neighbors completed an around-the-world trip. It was their dream, the trip of a lifetime. When we gathered to welcome them home, they eagerly described the journey\’s highlights — the Sheraton in Bangkok, the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Beijing, a Clint Eastwood film in a Calcutta theater, Budweiser in Holland and Kellogg\’s Corn Flakes in Great Britain.
I learned most of my theology not from my teachers but from my children. When my daughter, Nessa, was 3 years old, we had a routine. Each night, I would tuck her into bed, sing our bedtime prayers, kiss her good night and attempt to sneak out of the room. Halfway down the hall, she began to scream, \”Abba!\” An avid reader of Parents magazine, the Torah of parenting, I knew what to do: I walked back to the child\’s room and turned on every light. I looked under the bed. \”No alligator, Nessa.\” I checked the closet. \”No monsters, Nessa.\” I surveyed the ceiling. \”No spiders, Nessa. Now go to bed. Tomorrow is coming, and you\’ve got to get to sleep,\” I\’d say. \”Everything is safe. Good night.\” \”OK, Abba,\” she said, \”but leave the light on.\”
Because of our sins were we exiled from our land, and displaced far from our soil.\”
A fable: There was a king who collected jewels. One night, he dreamed that somewhere in the world, there was a ring with strange, magical powers:
Why is it that when Jews seek spiritual wisdom, they\’ll go almost anywhere except their own traditions? Look into any cult, any radical new therapy, any metaphysical society or meditating community, and you\’ll find Jews far beyond our proportion in the population. And should they come to Judaism, there is a thirst for the esoteric. \”I want to learn your spiritual secrets!\” an impassioned searcher says to me.\n
A couple with whom I\’m close had their first child, so I ran to the bookstore to get them our favorite book on child care. I had forgotten the exact title (it was always \”the baby book\”) and the author\’s name, so I thought I\’d just scan the shelf until it turned up. Shelf? Try shelves — six of them, each 8 feet long and 10 feet high, and all on parenting. Need advice on building self-esteem, teaching morals, successful potty-training? There are volumes to teach it.
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