Hi all!
Happy Israel Independence Day and Happy Mothers' Day!
This is episode 86 (S2:E32)
When I say the word 'respect' what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
For me, it was 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T' by Aretha Franklin. So, we're not going to go in that direction this week, but we are going to talk about the value and importance of respect.
Our subject comes to us this week by way of the seven-week 'Counting of the Omer' period that is discussed in the week's reading (Emor). The Bible does not describe this time period as either happy or sad, but it would seem from the commentaries that it was meant to be a happy time that joins the celebration of the Exodus and the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai seven weeks later. Yet, we commemorate at least the first handful of weeks as a time of mourning in memory of the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud describes the reason for the death of the '12k pairs' of students as a 'lack of respect for one another.'
How does that happen?
What does that mean?
What is respect/disrespect and where do we see it (not see it?) today?
How do we grow our self-respect and respect for others?
As always, super important topic (a bit long today!).
Enjoy & Happy Learning!
