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The Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #50 - Buy the Beans - Isaiah 61The price of a cold brew at Starbucks is about the same as a pound of sardines. How can this be? Karl Marx and Isaiah both lament this tragic-comedy and call on us to get our money's—or, even better, our labor's—worth.
2022-09-2313 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #49 - Tip - Isaiah 60Albert Einstein said that "compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe." Compounding is so powerful because it allows Malcolm Gladwell's concept of "tipping" to occur. Franz Kafka tipped on September 22, 1912, when he wrote his breakthrough story "The Judgment." Isaiah's prophecy that Israel would "tip," or in Hebrew, "lihafech," is playing out today right before our eyes.
2022-09-1620 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #48 - Don't Say "Sorry" - Isaiah 54The English language is ashamed of the word shame. We find an array of other words to replace it: embarrassed, shy, guilty, bashful. Yet, under all of these wordmasks lurks the feeling of shame. German, by contrast, is far more welcoming of the word shame (Scham). The prophet Isaiah shows how shame begins in childhood and should be treated at any cost. Paradoxically, it is only when we acknowledge shame that we can overcome it.
2022-09-0923 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #47 - Redo - Isaiah 51It is often said that “three is the magic number.” Might it be two? The fairy tale of The Three Little Bears and the three chances to guess Rumpelstiltskin’s name should not be altered. Two, however, can be as equally enchanting as three depending on the context. Benjamin Franklin once claimed that: “Well done is twice done.” The music of Mozart and the poetry of Isaiah demonstrate the magic of twice.
2022-09-0217 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #46 - Budget Everything - Isaiah 54The Hebrew word "Shalom" means "peace," sure, but it also relates to paying and to completing. When we pay back our debts, we are experiencing "Shalom" just as much as when we sign a peace treaty. We typically think of debt only with regard to money, yet we can be in debt in an array of areas. We can learn from German culture the peacefulness which comes from living with a "time surplus." And Isaiah shows how learning about God brings the greatest "Shalom" of all.
2022-08-2622 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #45 - Get a Dustbuster - Isaiah 49Isaiah swore the exiled Jews that one day it would be kings and queens who would lick the dust of their feet. We do not literally lick the dust of another's foot anymore in the twenty-first century--or do we? Malcolm Gladwell teaches us how to get out of our own way--a life tip which some German Jews who remained loyal to the fatherland tragically never heeded.
2022-08-1918 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #44 - Move Like a Grasshopper - Isaiah 40Sixth sense or phobia? Our feelings try to warn us when we are close to our triggers, even if a wall or a decade or a thin layer of gabardine provides a workable barrier. If we take Isaiah's advice to see ourselves as grasshoppers--and to move accordingly--we will feel better about landing in Germany or having a roommate who doesn't wear underpants.
2022-08-1217 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #43 - Eat Tribally - Isaiah 1Until Columbus, nobody in Europe had heard of a tomato or a potato. We think of tomato sauce as quintessential Italian cuisine, but really is it (Native) American. The more savvy one gets with language, the more quickly one can go to a supermarket and size up which foods are in their “hometown” and which are either imported or New World transplants. It might be time for me to eat more borscht and sardines.
2022-08-0515 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #42 - Don't "Get Lucky"—Get Blessed - Jeremiah 1The word "luck" does not once appear in the Torah, and yet "blessed" is all over it. By contrast, today, we see the world as a luck-based rather than blessing-based place. Capitalism has conditioned us to view ourselves as fragile beings subject to the whims of others. To become blessed, we must think ourselves blessed.
2022-07-2921 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #41 - Investigate Your Own Name - I Kings 17Weinberg, Steinberg, Greenbaum, and Blumfeld. Do these names evoke a law firm or a Goethe poem? It depends whom you ask. Unlike Israelis, and most nationalities, Americans often do not know the meaning of their names. To understand the story of our names is to change music into information. Discover your name's meaning ... if you dare.
2022-07-2217 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #40 - Wake Up to the Dew - Micah 5I knew what Mountain Dew was before I knew what actual dew was. Cute--or disturbing? Each morning the dew simmers on the grass for a few hours. Heidegger claimed to be connected with German peasant life, but did he hear the dew's whisperings? Micah wishes us to be among those who do not miss... the dew.
2022-07-1717 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #39 - Order a Coffee in your Enemy's Tongue - Judges 11 "German--what an ugly language." And yet, Mozart loved to write his operas in German. Was Mozart a stupid man? Had he no understanding of beauty? The reason why German gets bashed has little to do with the language's inherent sound. If we learn foreign languages, we might realize that our silver tongues are really stainless steel.
2022-07-1024 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #38 - Take no Life Tips - I Samuel 12Marie Antoinette once said "let them eat cake." But what else did she say? As children of the French Revolution, we will never know. Edmund Burke wrote that in our servitude to the queen, we enjoyed more freedom than after we chopped her head off, because we replace one form of slavery with another. Judaism treats freedom very delicately; only Moshe could meditate properly, and that's probably a good thing.
2022-07-0127 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #37 - Tell Stories - Joshua 2In 1936, Walter Benjamin lamented that the art of storytelling had been lost. Today, with the rise of the iPhone and Instagram, people are telling less stories than ever before (and no, Instagram stories don't count). Instead, we cry for information, for meaning, for Tacheles! The Book of Joshua tries to hook us with an opening story involving spies, concubines, and kings. If the "point" of this story is up for interpretation, that exactly is the point.
2022-06-2516 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #36 - Just Start Putting Things Away - Zechariah 2A generation after King Cyrus had let the Jews back into Israel, the Temple still had not been rebuilt. Sometimes, tasks seem so gargantuan that we do not know where to start, causing us to never start at all. When Beethoven wrote the Fifth Symphony, all he needed was four notes to get going. And to practice yoga, the hardest move is the one onto your mat.
2022-06-1721 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #35 - Rethink Bloodletting - Judges 13The Torah knew long before the FDA that pregnant mothers should not drink alcohol. The Torah relied on intuition, rather than scientific studies, to impart this medical advice. Kant said that he had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith. This statement is increasingly applicable to the mysterious world of nutrition. We might not "know" that butter is healthier than margarine, but nevertheless, we still "know."
2022-06-1026 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #34 - Work Comfortably - Hosea 2Adults often need parents just as much as children do. Therefore, adults must learn to be their own parents by cultivating the yin and yang of self-compassion. This switch is akin to the reversal from scripture to Life described by Walter Benjamin in his 1934 essay on Franz Kafka. In his prophecy, Hosea recognized that Israel must be her own mother in the temporary absence of a father.
2022-06-0321 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #33 - Fight, Date, or Dance - Jeremiah 17Jack cures his deadening consumerism by trading weekly punches at Fight Club. Dr. Faust escapes despair by discovering the painful joy of dating. In this sense, they tore down the Tower of Babel within themselves. No longer Jeremiahian tamarisk trees, they let themselves be saved by God without uttering a single prayer. In short, they let go thinking in a manner far more Taoist than Buddhist.
2022-05-2722 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #32 - Invest in Apple(s) - Jeremiah 44That which has been around, tends to stay around. This truth of life is what allows Apple to continue to satisfy investors even if the heyday of the iPhone is long past. In 1886, Nietzsche knew that it was wiser to "invest" in the Jews than in Germany because the Jews counted their age in millennia whereas Germany counted its in decades. Jeremiah proves a wise investor when he purchases land in Jerusalem even as the Babylonian Empire is about to sack the city.
2022-05-2020 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #31 - Sweat Sweating Sweat - Ezekiel 44Tel Aviv fashion is cool. It also keeps you cool. The star of the Torah is not Abraham, Moshe, or even God, but rather, the Law. We sometimes forget how nice it is to have Law. Walter Benjamin would agree that the Law of the Torah was (partially) designed to set us off from the primitive world. Although Tel Aviv is often considered the new Babylon, its no-sweat fashion is downright priestly.
2022-05-1318 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #30 - Bake your own Bread - Ezekiel 20The answer is not always "yes we can." Sometimes, it's "no, we can't." But we should rarely answer "no" automatically. Take at least one breath before saying "no" to an idea. When Theodor Herzl suggested the Jews of Europe could handle having their own country, many people answered "No" without a second thought.
2022-05-0616 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #29 - Grow Some Legs - Ezekiel 22Sponges hang out on the ocean floor. All they do is absorb, absorb, unthinkingly and unquestionably absorb the water flowing in and out of their porous bodies. We, as humans, are much more like sponges than we realize. That which we surround ourselves with slowly becomes who we are. In one of the ultimate historical backfires, the German-Jews assimilated so much that they became, well, German.
2022-04-1520 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #28 - Choose (Your Airplane Experience) - II Kings 7Sartre once wrote that "we are condemned to be free." No matter in what situation we find ourselves, we always have choices. Ironically, sometimes the more imprisoned we become, the more we notice our freedom. But this is a dark freedom, which makes Kafka's Josef K. abnegate it. The four lepers outside the city wall in the Book of Kings show how even in the worst of times there are always options. Riding coach on an airplane offers a parallel example.
2022-04-0819 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #27 - Supercharge your Meditation - II Kings 5You need Judaism more than Judaism needs you. It is here to help. But the Torah is not just an astute self-help book. It has what Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe, the Grimm fairy tales--for all their brilliance--lack: divinity. When you suffer from leprosy, as did King Naaman, you don't bathe in the rivers of Damascus, you bathe in the Jordan. And you don't read Homer, rather the Tehilim.
2022-04-0117 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #26 - Dare to be the Same - II Samuel 6Do you feel different, misunderstood, alienated? You are not alone. As the "Holden Caulfield Paradox" shows, the people you'd least expect also feel this way. When Darwin showed that nature selects our genes, many German and English philosophers concluded that certain races are superior to others. In fact, Darwin's theory should have proved to us that we are all uncannily similar; all humans share 99.9% of the same DNA, and we even have 60% of the same DNA as strawberries. King David encourages us to "double-down" on our odd behavior and controversial opinions. Ironically, when we try to avoid being judged...
2022-03-2520 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #25 - Back to the Sources! - Jeremiah 7It seems as though for some Jews today, there is often a strange refusal to take Judaism seriously. This trend can be witnessed in Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" and the phrase "Jew York." Yet, the more we read original sources of Judaism (i.e. the Torah), the more we see this humorizing of Judaism for what it really is: a grasping in the dark for meaning when one is uninformed of one's heritage. We need to go back to the sources instead of allowing information to be mediated to us.
2022-03-1821 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #24 - Assume People are Drunk - Isaiah 44Sometimes, people behave in ways so foolish, so inexplicable, that we can only cry to the heavens in exasperation. Isaiah was particularly baffled that someone could pray to a "god" made of wood. Metta meditation teaches that we should realize that everyone is just trying to be happy, even if it's in a warped and twisted way. We might also consider telling ourselves that people are drunk. If the beer-addicted Martin Luther is any indication, then we might be justified in such an assumption.
2022-03-1115 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #23 - Wear a T-Shirt - I Kings 7If I could sum up NIetzsche's entire philosophy in one phrase, it would be: do the opposite. Don't try to appear strong, or moral, or compassionate, because it will just make you seem the opposite. Instead, BE strong and moral in your core and your actions will naturally overflow from this state. This is why all that was found in the Ark of the Covenant was "nothing but the two tablets of stone." The tablets needed no decoration to "prove" their greatness, and thereby appeared all the more impressive. For the same reason, Steve Jobs could dress like your...
2022-03-0419 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #22 - Specialize and Become kind of Famous - I Kings 7English has no word for “semi-famous.” You’re either famous, or a nobody. Yet millions of people fill this gap. To be kind of famous can be just as gratifying as being legit famous. Martin Luther used the printing press to become one of the first European celebrities. But Hiram, the brass worker of Solomon’s temple, felt like just as much a superstar..
2022-02-2525 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #21 - Hate Your Car - I Kings 18With politics, the answer is often: "It's the economy, stupid." And with mental health, the answer is often: "It's stress, stupid." Carl Jung showed how our present anxieties may be our brain's attempt to steer us toward a better future. The story of Elijah shows how it was primal stress which caused the ancient Hebrews to forget HaShem and turn to paganism. What is a simple way to reduce stress? Learn to hate your car.
2022-02-1825 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #20 - Walk like Kant - Ezekiel 43The tastiest part of a Shabbat dinner is usually the bread and the wine. Why is this? Because of the elaborate rituals which surround them. In 1907, Freud argued that modern-day compulsions are just a resurfacing of the neurotic rituals of ancient religions. Yet, perhaps we, as humans, need rituals, and compulsions display our modern psyche, deprived of religious rites, lashing out. Even the rationalist philosopher Kant, with his evening constitutional, embraced the therapy of ritual.
2022-02-1118 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #19 - Master a Dish - I Kings 5In Solomon's time, the "Holy of Holies" was quite literally just around the corner. It was right there--in the Temple. Now, as Kafka points out in his story "The New Advocate," the proverbial gates to India have "have receded to remoter and higher places." We can't get *there* any longer, so why not turn our attention to mastering what is in our control: namely, a routine morning meditation and the cooking of a gourmet dish.
2022-02-0421 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #18 - Take an Extra Day - Jeremiah 34Even in our modern era of iPhones and Übers and microwaves and instant coffee, we still need that extra time—that extra day. In a way, the Über is often times just as “slow” as the horse-and-buggy, and the text message just as sluggish as the postmarked letter. This is why when Jeremiah said six years, he really meant seven--and why, for Germans, one week can be expressed as "eight days."
2022-01-2824 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #17 - Count Ten Outbreaths - Isaiah 6Is there such a thing as a magic number? Many will say it is "three." After all, it was Isaiah who cried "kadosh, kadosh, kadosh!" But three isn't always the magic number. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many Beatles songs which start out with 1-2-3-4! Seven is the magic number for the length of the week, though we can't really explain why. Don't forget about three, though: in his play Penthesilea, Kleist showed how in the dualistic "battle of the sexes" a third way can transcend masculine and feminine.
2022-01-2118 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #16 - Drink Ancient Milk - Judges 4 For thousands of years, there was only one kind of milk, what Americans would call "whole milk." But to our ancestors, this was just "milk." In 1985, governments recommended fat-free (skim) milk over (whole) milk. For Nietzshe, skim milk was really "slave milk." What milk should we drink? Don't ask your government; ask the ancients. The story of Yael and Sisera demonstrates the superiority of full-fat milk.
2022-01-1420 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #15 - Never let the News get in the Way of your Education - Jeremiah 46It is often difficult to distinguish "Meet the Press" from "Sportscenter." We criticize dictatorships for "state-run" news shows, but when the news is driven by capitalism is it any less brainwashing? Jeremiah and the late professor Ruth Kluger show that not all politics is created equal. The news should serve us--not the other way round.
2022-01-0720 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #14 - Travel to Egypt - Ezekiel 29The Paris of the movies is long gone. Walk down the Champs d'Elysées today and the experience is hardly different than going to your local shopping mall. Still, the essences of ancient cultures somehow remain. If you want to understand what life was like for the Hebrews under the Pharaoh, you need to set foot on Egyptian soil.
2021-12-3020 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #13 - Learn what that Tree is called - Jeremiah 1We all know that an apple fell on Newton's head. But how many of us know what an apple tree looks like (and not just: a tree that has apples growing on it)? Darwin showed that the sex lives of plants are remarkably similar to those of humans. When God asks Jeremiah, "What do you see?", Jeremiah immediately answers: I see an almond tree. What else might Jeremiah have known, thousands of years before Darwin, about the not-so-secret sex lives of trees?
2021-12-2416 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #12 - Don't be a Man - I Kings 2If you are really "a man," you should never really need to use the phrase "be a man." King David's instructions to Solomon to "be a man" shows this phrase's wisdom--and its dark side. Nietzsche was a "real soldier" because he took his Prussian mentality off the battlefield and into the university. Through Epictetus' handbook the Enchiridion, we learn that being a man really means being an adult--or a soldier.
2021-12-1720 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #11 - Always Carry a Good Pen - Ezekiel 37The ink from your pen should be as dark and rich as blood. You should be able to whip out your pen faster than a cowboy draws his pistol. Yet, nowadays, we sign our receipts with the cheap "pen" given to us by the cashier. Ezekiel didn't write - he inscribed. In the German word for "write" - SCHREIBEN - we hear how the ancients viewed the act of applying pen to paper.
2021-12-1015 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #10 - Ask about the Bristles on their Toothbrush - I Kings 3Have you mastered the art of the follow-up question? If we limit ourselves to "small talk," if we let conversations die prematurely, we miss the chance to unveil people. King Solomon and Freud were masters at getting others to reveal themselves.
2021-12-0319 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #9 - Listen Up! - Amos 3When a baby has a problem, it expresses itself by crying - sometimes very loudly. Adults, however, give off far more subtle clues when they are distressed; nevertheless, the distress is no less real. The prophet Amos and the play Woyzeck implore us to become better listeners.
2021-11-2620 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #8 - Have at least One Good Enemy - ObadiahIf you have at least one good enemy in your life, take pride in that. It means you are a robust, vivacious, and noble individual. Learn from the prophet Obadiah, learn from Jay-Z and Nas, and learn from Nietzsche, to go out there and make yourself a good, trustworthy, respectful enemy!
2021-11-1918 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #7 - Spell Your Name in a Foreign Language - Hosea 11Shakespeare once asked: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." For a rose to smell its sweetest, we must re-train our minds to see language as the clothing of the body. Meditation, and seeing that shepherd from Beersheba as both Jacob and Israel, can help to transport us there.
2021-11-1214 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #6 - Light a Candle for Yoga - Malachi 1Just before he seems about to be crushed by a boulder or to fall into a pit of fire, Indiana Jones takes a moment to grab his hat. Do you take an extra moment to light a candle for yoga?
2021-11-0518 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #5 - Take some Zinc - I Kings 1In order to be a strong king, David had to cultivate his sexual energy. But crucially, he did not act on his sexual desire but rather transmuted it to loftier purposes. As Sigmund Freud showed, our sex drive often has little do with sexual intercourse. The little mineral zinc can increase your drive toward sex, and in turn, your drive toward life.
2021-10-2914 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #4 - Pay Extra for Olive Oil - II Kings 4Olive oil was sacred in the ancient world. Homer once called it "liquid gold." In this week's haftarah, a few jugs of olive oil is enough to pay off a huge debt. Yet today we buy soybean oil instead of olive oil, just to save a few dollars. As Brecht showed in Threepenny Opera, capitalism has reached absurd extremes.
2021-10-2216 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #3 - Put Your Mind on the Paleo Diet - Isaiah 41We tend to be very careful about what we put into our bodies, but let our mind consume whatever we want. Just because something is "true," doesn't mean it will "taste good" to the mind. Nietzsche realized that "truth" is overrated. And therefore it is comforting to hear Isaiah speak of the "ends of the Earth" rather than "the ends of the galaxy."
2021-10-1516 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #2 - Eat the Air - Isaiah 55Franz Kafka got his nourishment not from food, but from writing. Isaiah also preached that we should feed our souls more than our stomachs. When we wake up in the morning, we should "eat the air" before we eat our breakfast.
2021-10-0716 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLife Tip #1 - Learn to Find the North Star - Isaiah 43A few centuries ago, you may not have known how to read, what time it was, or even your birthday--but you knew how to find the North Star in the sky. In this week's Haftarah, Isaiah speaks effortlessly about north, south, east, and west. Even if we are living in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, it's not too late to brush up on our astronomy.
2021-10-0112 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVeh Zot ha Beracha - The Death of Moses and Schlegel's Witz - Episode 49 The Velvet Underground's music is just rock-and-roll music, but also something more. Meditation is just sitting and breathing, but somehow more than that. The Torah is just a book of stories like Shakespeare's First Folio, and yet few would name their child Hamlet. And as for Moshe, he dies on Mount Nivo, but does he really die?The answer to these questions is: Witz.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Mozart - "Requiem: VIII. Communio"
2021-09-3039 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesHa'Azinu - What's in a Name? The Universe itself - Episode 48The next time you call someone an artist, realize that you may be insulting him or her. We typically associate the word Art with Truth, but actually they are more like opposites. Art relies on deception, trickery, manipulation: this is why we have the words ARTificial, ARTifice, and ARTful. According to Hegel, Art could never contain Truth. But Hegel, it seems, never read the Kabbalah. For in the Kabbalah, the Torah is both Art and God and the Universe all at once.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Mozart - "A Musical Joke. IV."
2021-09-1730 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayelach - Why Moses Sang like Leonard Cohen - Episode 47Our brain has two halves, right and left, and yet, one of these sides has become brawny and beefy, whereas the other enfeebled and emaciated. Our society has pumped steroids into our ability to analyze, argue, and debate, and has allowed our talent for singing, dancing, and even reciting to whither and decay. In 1795, Schiller wrote that his society had become hyper-rational and needed to awaken its artistic side. In the parsha for this week, Moses instructs us that, to really understand the Torah, we must also learn a song (or is it a poem?), anticipating Schiller, as well...
2021-09-1025 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesNitzavim - The Torah and Existentialism - Episode 46Our culture has romanticized and trivialized the idea of "faith." Just have faith, man! You've got to have faith! It all comes down to faith. Yet, some people are able to take the famous "leap of faith" whereas others are not. Dostoevsky could take this existentialist leap of faith, whereas Kafka's Josef K. could never "let go" into the void. The Torah's words on choosing to follow the mitzvot may provide the answer. steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Ravi Shankar - "Dhun"
2021-09-0331 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesKi Tavo - Hannah Arendt's National Anthem - Episode 45It took two world wars for European countries to realize that nationalism is a bit silly. Many other countries have yet to catch up. In his speech to the Israelites, Moshe shows how real nationalism comes from relentless questioning rather than blind obedience. When Hannah Arendt wrote that the Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann was not a monster but just "a bureaucrat," she was following in the footsteps of Socrates -- and Moshe.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Paul Robeson - "All Men are Brothers"
2021-08-2731 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesKi Tetzeh - Minimalism in the Torah and in Goethe - Episode 44The Torah tells us not to "boil a baby cow in the milk of her mother." The Torah doesn't want us just to refrain from mixing dairy and meat. It also wants us to be more minimalistic in all areas of life. Our brains were not designed to multitask; when we keep our lives simple, we find calmness and joy. Goethe's art became far more elegant and soothing after his trip to Italy in 1786 when he saw the wisdom of simplicity in classical art. Meditation and Shabbat may be the ultimate minimalist activities.Music: Mozart - "Piano...
2021-08-1924 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesShoftim - The Torah's Deromanticization of Law - Episode 43When Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, law reached its pinnacle of glory. But unfortunately, law is not always so elevated. It can often be a swampy, hypocritical, grotesque affair. When we romanticize the ability of courts to bring about change, we make things too easy on ourselves. A court should be seen more as an "emergency room" than as the Parthenon. Franz Kafka was always careful to depict courtrooms as depraved places. In this week's parsha, the Torah warns us not to get too starry-eyed before the law. steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001
2021-08-1329 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesRe'eh - On the Seventh Day, Don't Just Rest: Release - Episode 42Our best thoughts often come from not-thinking. Our wisest actions come when we don't act. German philosopher Martin Heidegger advocated the concept of "Gelassenheit" in order to escape our addiction to thinking and willing. But Heidegger struggled to explain how to achieve Gelassenheit. The Torah already had the practical solution to Gelassenheit figured out. Every seven days, seven weeks, seven years: do nothing, sit, release, surrender. Paradoxically, when we do nothing, we are doing quite a lot. We are doing this strange thing called "yielding. "steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Eluvium - "Calm...
2021-08-0529 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesEikev - Schopenhauer's Will and Idol Worship - Episode 41WILL you listen to this Schrift episode?Even though we may not feel the temptation to bow down to a statue of Zeus anymore, idol worship still creeps into our lives in sneaky ways. We have religious relationships, bordering on idolatry, with, say, love, success, sex, sports, evolution, even food. Yet, climate change has shown how it is the will which is our most dangerous and surreptitious foreign god. Mindfulness can teach us to appreciate our wills without being enslaved to them.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Rammstein - "Ich Will"
2021-07-3032 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVaetchanan - Not Learning from Tragedy - Episode 40Moses pleads with God to let him into Israel. But God refuses. Instead of trying to explain away and rationalize away God's decision, might it be better to just acknowledge that this is sad, this is heartbreaking, this is a tragedy? Our culture has forgotten how to process the tragic. We try to smooth things over with clichés and silver linings. The Ancient Greeks knew how to confront tragedy: by accepting it, reveling in it, exalting in it. They did so not through logic but through music, through the Greek Chorus of the tragedies of Aeschylus a...
2021-07-2338 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesDevarim - Why Your Parents are Cooler than You Think - Episode 39For 99.9% of human history, it was the parents who were revered, who knew things, and the children who were mocked, who were ignorant of all that was important. That all changed in Germany's Sturm und Drang movement in the 1770s and ts Romantic movement. These epochs cleverly depicted the youth generation as the visionaries and the parents as hapless folks who just didn't "get it."Our culture readily latches on to narratives of cruel and clueless fathers with misunderstood and victimized sons. Yet, who are the sources of these narratives? The sons (i.e. Franz Kafka and...
2021-07-1638 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesMattot-Massei - On the Genealogy of Flaking: A Polemic - Episode 38We don't take our word seriously anymore. We make promises all the time, knowing that we are not going to follow through on them. Sure, I'll get coffee with you (when hell freezes over). Sure, I'll read that book you've recommended (when pigs fly). Sure, I'll marry you until death do us part (or until I get bored). In law, a contract doesn't require lawyers, a signature, or a written document. It just requires that two people verbally agree to something. Yet, nowadays, oral agreements have become a laughingstock. They used to be something sacred - when...
2021-07-0932 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesPinchas - Why New Year's Eve is a Hoax - Episode 37There is something a bit odd about New Year's Eve. Why are we celebrating rebirth, renewal, and a fresh start, when everything is cold, grey, and dead outside? It is not exactly an inspirational time to begin making resolutions.It wasn't always this way. In Judaism, the year begins, not on Rosh Hashanah, as most people think, but actually at the dawn of spring. Many ancient cultures also celebrated the New Year not in January, but in what we today call "March."The Hebrew calendar, unlike our modern calendar, is intimately connected with nature.
2021-07-0229 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBalak - Plenty of Hope for Fools - Episode 36Our minds want to serve us. But the problem is that they don’t always do such a good job. This is because of a mismatch between contemporary society and our brains, which evolved for the wild. In Kafka’s Zürau Aphorisms, he wrote that all thinking is just consolation, and therefore it is never true consolation. Thinking does not lead us to the Infinite. It tends to have a quicksand effect. To grasp monotheism in the ancient world, one needed to think differently. One needed to stop thinking such that God could enter. One needed to become stupi...
2021-06-2527 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesChukat - Moses Hits the Rock, Beethoven Hits the Drums - Episode 35The literary characters we most fall in love with are those who are flawed, imperfect, human, all-too-human. This tendency is one-thousand times more true with people in real life than with literary figures. Nobody wants to hang out with someone who is "perfect." And yet, society pressures us to wear a mask of innocence and perfection to the world. Ironically, it is "innocence" which threatens our popularity far more than our raw and dark sides. Franz Kafka's 1912 story "The Judgment" would elegantly demonstrate this idea. We want imperfection, not just with people, but also in art, particularly in music...
2021-06-1736 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesKorach - Louis XIV v. Michael Kohlhaas - Episode 34Nietzsche feared that the drive toward equality would cause people to become more mediocre. If you look at morning talk shows, you see how accurate Nietzsche's predictions were. We tend to get all teary-eyed whenever we hear the word "equality" mentioned, but might equality be a double-edged sword and a mask? Once upon a time, it was taken as a given that hierarchy and rank existed in a society, yet today the mere thought that anyone could be "better" than us is difficult to absorb. Kleist's novel Michael Kohlhaas showed how equality is often just a drive toward revenge...
2021-06-1032 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesShelach Lecha - Getting Stoned on Shabbat and Schiller's "Ode to Joy" - Episode 33If you were to tell your doctor that laughter is the best medicine, your doctor would probably laugh at you, which is no small irony. Yet, when we laugh, we infuse our bodies with feelings of joy, relaxation, and relief. Believing in our own health and our own well-being can at times serve as a kind of medicine. This may be the real reason why the Hebrews lost their first attempt to conquer Canaan.Just as believing in ourselves brings us health, so too does believing in our societies. When citizens begin to doubt and undermine their...
2021-06-0337 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBehaalotecha - Klimt's The Kiss and Moshe's Humility - Episode 32We tend to think that the more information we have about a person, the better we know that person. Yet, this is not the case. Just because we have spent our whole lives with "ourselves" does not mean we really "know" ourselves. To know oneself requires one to lose one's ego. When you lose your ego and know yourself, you will simultaneously be better able to connect with others and with God. In Hesse's 1922 novel Siddhartha, the emptying of the ego leads to self-knowledge and Oneness. It is not a coincidence that the Torah describe Moses as...
2021-05-2732 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesNaso - Why Death is Bad - Episode 31In the Torah, there is a law that if anyone touches a corpse, they need to go outside the camp for awhile, or they may infect other people with death. When the Torah was written, it was simply obvious to everyone that death was bad and life was good. Yet, this simple premise that "death = bad" and "life = good" has been forgotten in modern days. This is because modern "preachers of death" trick us into thinking that weakness, self-punishment, and guilt are signs of "progress" whereas strength and vivacity are indicators of "sin." ...
2021-05-2134 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBehmidbar - A Schrift about Nothing - Episode 30Seinfeld was not a show about nothing. Rather, it was a show about trivialities, trifles, mundane occurrences. This is not nothing. Nothing, in fact, is a lot more complicated -- and, according to Kabbalah, a lot more holy.One show which really may have been about nothing was Kafka's short story "The Hunger Artist," published in 1922.Nothingness is not an empty white room, or a black void, or a nihilist's favorite buzzword. Rather, it is a concept which stretches the limits of human imagination. If you can find nothingness, prepare to be whelmed...
2021-05-1325 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBehar-Behukkotai - Josef K.'s Inferno and Laws without Front Teeth - Episode 29Children figure out pretty quickly that even if they're bad they will still get Christmas presents from Santa Claus. So, why be good? Why follow the Mitzvot if God will not smite us? Or will He? Nah, He won't. Right? Even if you don't believe that God will personally smite you for breaking Shabbat, perhaps the Mitzvot have their own logic, such that if we don't keep them, our personal well-being will suffer, or the Jewish people as a whole will bear the costs.In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov learned that if you break...
2021-05-0628 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesEmor - Faustian Craving and the Gleaners - Episode 28We tend to think of greed and gluttony in financial and caloric terms respectively. And yet, it is possible to be greedy and gluttonous for just about anything in life. Paradoxically, one can even become greedy to not be greedy.Goethe's Faust marked a turning point in literature as the play showed how previous sins like wealth, drunkenness, and debauchery, had lost their appeal to modern humans. And yet, these same "vices" simply assumed new form in the lusting for bookish knowledge, for Enlightenment, and even to live in the moment. If we are greedy...
2021-04-3027 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesAcharei-Kedoshim - Israel's Belly and Heidegger's Thing - Episode 27Is there really a difference between simile and metaphor? When Paul Simon sings "I am a rock," no one thinks he actually is a literal pebble on seashore. But then why does he not sing "I am like a rock" instead? In Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa isn't just "like" a bug, but actually "is" a bug. Yet we, as humans, are quick to transform Gregor back into a human, to the bug as just a "symbol" or an allegory for a human. Meanwhile, Paul Simon's actual rock and Kafka's actual bug get left behind in the metaphorical dust.
2021-04-2227 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesTazria-Metzora - Mindful Self-Compassion and Theodor Herzl's Copernican Moment - Episode 26Today, we tend to dismiss people who are overly concerned with what others think as being egotistical or weak or sensitive. But actually, caring what others think of us, wanting be liked by the group, was an absolutely crucial personality trait in ancient societies. Yet, this remains a difficult reality for us to swallow. Our society tends to glorify the people who stand out from the crowd, who welcome the hissing and booing of an audience, who don’t give a damn what others think. The legacy of Sturm und Drang and the Romantic hero is still very much wi...
2021-04-1528 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesShmini - Kant's Transcendental Idealism and "Strange Fire" - Episode 25Kant discovered that our minds are storytelling machines. We are masters at taking a limited set of data from the outside world and weaving this into a narrative. Yet, the narrative we end up telling ourselves often ends up not being a cute and endearing child's bedtime story but more like a scandalous drama or horror film. The storeis we tell ourselves often bring our deepest insecurities to the surface, as evidenced by Shakespeare's Tragedy, Othello. Aaron's reaction to the death of his two sons inside the Mishkan seems to indicate that we should not so quickly presume to...
2021-04-0930 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesTsav - Unkosher Sacrifices and Kafka's Metamorphosis - Episode 24You may not realize it, but each time you say "thank you," you are making a kind of mini-sacrifice. In this sense, you are not so different from ancient peoples who made animal sacrifices to the gods. What is "thank you" other than a momentary emptying of yourself in acknowledgement of a gift or favor you have received. The Torah's emphasis on animal sacrifices was also a reaction in the ancient world toward human sacrifices. The Torah wanted to say: we don't do this anymore. Rather, we sacrifice in a way which is ennobling and elevating. In our daily...
2021-03-2530 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayikra - Romantic Irony and the Pursuit of "Kafka" - Episode 23Certain questions cannot be answered with mere logic and reason. When you try to interpret Kafka's literature, each time you answer one question, ten more appear in its place. The convoluted and cumbersome opening lines to Vayikra indicate that speaking directly to the Infinite is not going to be as simple as knocking on the door and being let inside. Romantic irony occurs when a text reflects back on itself and calls itself into question. The early German Romantic Friedrich Schlegel theorized that romantic irony allows a text to dwell in the Infinite, as it both undermines and affirms...
2021-03-1827 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayekhel-Pekudei - Darwinism and Dream Jobs - Episode 22It is not an accident that some people feel they were born to be dentists, and others feel they were born to be professors. Nor is it an accident that some people want to have large families, while others wish to remain single for their entire lives. Our society has a lamentably oversimplified concept of natural selection. We think that our greatest drives are to survive and procreate. Yet, Darwin showed in 1859 that evolution works just as much on the group as on the individual level. We evolved not just for the survival of ourselves, but also for the...
2021-03-1130 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesKi Thissa - Einstein's Special Relativity and the Golden Calf - Episode 21In order to understand the speed of light, Einstein had to think counterintuitively. He had to forget our typical notions of space and time. Einstein figured out that light behaves fundamentally differently from what we are used to experiencing. To understand God, we need to think similarly. The God of the Torah is highly anthropomorphized so that God can be understandable to the limits of the human mind. Yet, the Torah abounds with clues that God is, like the speed of light, beyond space and time. The practice of yoga, in its combination of the spiritual and the physical...
2021-03-0429 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesTetsaveh - Dramatic Irony and the Sons of Aaron - Episode 20Dramatic irony occurs when we know something about a character's fate which the character himself does not know. The ability to predict the character's future fate takes audiences on emotional rollercoasters as we wish to jump out of our seats to help the character, but know we are powerless to do so. Yet, is it not the case that we view our own lives through the lens of dramatic irony all the time? We see ourselves not in the present, but as tiny specks on the vast spectrum of past and future. We extend this Weltanschauung not only to...
2021-02-2638 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesTerumah - Walter Benjamin's Aura and the War between God and Art - Episode 19Why do hundreds of people travel from distant lands to see the Mona Lisa but then when they finally get there, their first act is to take out their cameras and snap a picture of it? Walter Benjamin's 1936 essay "On the Reproducibility of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" discusses how, in modern times, art can be reproduced on a massive scale. This technology causes copies of art, even if identical to the original work, to seem paltry in comparison to the original work, which retains its "aura." When Moses ascends Mount Sinai, the first thing God tells...
2021-02-1800 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesMishpatim - Marx’s Superstructure and the Hebrew Word for Slave - Episode 18We tend to think of suck-ups as just exasperating, but ultimately harmless, pests. In fact, they are the great movers and shakers of society. They parrot back the values of their bosses at the office. Over time, these values spread like a virus, and are no longer subjective values but just “normal beliefs.” The Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci knew that, to change society, it was not enough to call for revolution, as Marx did. Rather, it was necessary to change culture itself. Immanuel Kant observed cultural change can only occur through relentless self-questioning and vigorous debate. Yet, our society is a...
2021-02-1145 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesYithro - The Great German Composers and Jethro's Sage Advice - Episode 17Why is it that people so often close themselves off to good advice? Why do people stubbornly refuse to meditate or consider controversial nutrition tips? Moses was open to new ideas, and he took the advice of his father-in-law with graciousness.Among the great German composers, Mendelssohn may have been too willing to take advice and yield his individuality, whereas Wagner was too egotistical and insular about his music. IG: Stevehead0001steventobyweinberg.comMusic: Mahler - "Symphony No. 4, Fourth Movement"
2021-02-0448 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBischalach - Kierkegaard's Irony and the First Jewish Joke - Episode 16Irony is more than just a literary device; the Zeitgeist of an age or the Weltanschauung of a people can be inferred by looking into their use of irony. Our current age is so saturated with irony that we have plunged irony into the most advanced stages: into meta-irony, hyper-irony, and postmodern irony. In his 1841 work, On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard shows how toxic and nihilistic a force irony can be. Socrates used irony to prove to his fellow Athenians that they actually know n...
2021-01-2836 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBo - The Tenth Plague and Hegel's Historical Dialectic - Episode 15In this week’s parsha, God takes the extraordinary decision of killing off every first-born being in Egypt in order to finally force the Pharaoh’s hand. These first-born beings include not just the Egyptian aristocracy, but also the peasants, the middle-class, even the animals. Yes, even the cute, innocent, first-born animals must die so that the Hebrews can be let free. At worst, God’s decision is a genocide. At best, it is an act of war.What is the justification for this?We can ask Hegel, who would have said that "the Owl of Min...
2021-01-2133 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVa'era - The "Strong" Heart of Pharaoh and Nietzsche's Prussian Heart - Episode 14Have you ever thought about the heart? I mean really thought about it? We have the word heartfelt, which we all immediately understand. Why don’t we have words for other organs? Why don’t we say kidneyfelt or brainfelt or liverfelt or gallbladderfelt?It has been the trend in recent years to praise the toughness and almost ruthlessness of leaders. This is a trope that never seems to get old, it would seem. Ned Stark’s downfall came about because, essentially, he was too naïve, too gullible. We might say: his heart was too big. Nietzsc...
2021-01-1425 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesShemot - The Black Spider and Moses the Egyptian - Episode 13How do we handle uncomfortable questions? Do we ignore them and bottle them up, or do we turn toward them? In the Swiss-German writer Jeremias Gotthelf's novel The Black Spider, we witness how a society deals with threats to its perception of Christianity. Judaism is also not immune from questions of legitimacy. In his 1939 book, Moses and Monotheism, Freud posited that Moses was actually not a Hebrew but an Egyptian. Yet, Freud also believed that perceiving Moses as Egyptian could actually be a kind of gift to the Jewish people. Why? Meditation, and the concept of letting emotions, thoughts...
2021-01-0729 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayechi - Kafka's Anti-Übermensch and the Mastery of Doubt - Episode 12In the West, we tend to view thoughts on their own terms rather than as symptoms and reflections of the state of our body. Literary characters like Othello, George Costanza, Josef K., and Marie Weltstern, allowed a thought of doubt to become their realities. In the Torah, we see how characters like Jacob and Joseph naturally overcome doubt through cultivation of a strong inner core and a robust physical and mental health. It is not enough to tell a person to be more reasonable; you must get them to feel more reasonable.
2021-01-0131 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayigash - The First Bildungsroman and the Original Übermensch - Episode 11The story of Joseph and his brothers represents a coming-of-age saga, predating the formal Bildungsroman of Goethe by thousands of years. Even though Joseph credits God for all of his success in life, the Torah seems to be hinting that we should see ourselves as most responsible for our happiness and prosperity. Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch shows that we would do better to connect with the earth and with the soil for our salvation than to make pleas to heaven. IG: Stevehead0001steventobyweinberg.comMusic: Nas - "Nothing Lasts Forever"
2020-12-2428 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesMiketz - Freud's Interpretation of Dreams and the Godlike Power of Luck - Episode 10There is a moment during a tennis match where the ball hits the net and hangs in the air for an instant. In this moment, the ball seems to decide for itself whether to go forward or go backward. "Luck" seems to decide -- but what is luck? This phenomenon of the tennis ball occurs in our dreams as well: we can dream about pretty much anything. We have no control over our dreams; they proceed irregardless of our intentions. Joseph said that dreams come from God. Freud said that dreams come from the unconscious. Yet, it may be...
2020-12-1700 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayeshev - The Twins of Tamar and Zarathustra's Overcoming of Nihilism - Episode 9Ironically, opposites often turn out to be nearly identical. Religion and atheism, life and death, infinity and the moment, nihilism and transcendence. According to Thomas Mann, when Joseph and Jacob sat together in Jacob's tent, they celebrated a Passover seder. Does this view represent the theology of the Talmud or the secularism of biblical archaeology? Perhaps it can be both, and more. From Nietzsche's Zarathustra, we learn that, to arrive at Truth, a person must hold two contradictions simultaneously together, and artfully use one to triumph over the other.IG: Stevehead0001steventobyweinberg.com...
2020-12-1029 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayishlach - The Ego, Revenge, and Nietzschean Forgetting - Episode 8 Why is it that our negative and painful thoughts are most likely to stick around? To what lengths will the ego to protect itself? How should we handle the lust for revenge? In this episode, I discuss the revenge which Simon and Levi took when a young prince had sex with their sister Dinah. When confronted with feelings for revenge, we often fall back on ingrained clichés from Christian morality that we should turn the other cheek and love our enemies. Yet, as Nietzsche argued, the real way to achieve revenge is to literally forget the wound to t...
2020-12-0333 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayetza - Jacob's Love for Rachel and the Dangers of Romanticism - Episode 7The words romance, Romantic, and Roman are intimately connected and yet easily misunderstood. With Jacob's love for Rachel, he could have inspired thousands of future romantic comedies. He also seems to have been the first "knight" of medieval courtly love poetry. Yet, the Torah shows that fertility may be a more important value than love or romance. The perils of the over-Romantic would be further shown in Goethe's breakthrough novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001
2020-11-2635 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesToldot - Isaac and the Unconscious - Episode 6Freud, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky observed that we are not masters of our own house. We are guided by deep, unconscious forces, which we are unaware of. Sometimes the unconscious leads us astray, but other times it serves as our most trusted adviser. In this week's Parsha, we see how Isaac's unconscious allowed him to choose the right son to be the heir for Israel. In our hyper-rationalistic society, it is critical that we practice yoga and meditation to communicate with our unconscious.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Brian Eno - "Another Green World"
2020-11-1926 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesChayeh Sarah - Martin Buber and Seeing the World as "You" rather than "It" - Episode 5Martin Buber's 1923 work Ich und Du distinguishes between "I/You" and "I/It" relationships. The modern world pressures us to see everything as "it" -- something to be used for personal gain and to be exploited. It is only when we see others as "You" -- as subjects rather than objects -- that we can feel completed and connected with the Universe. To see others, whether they be plants, animals, or humans, as "You" allows us to connect with the ultimate "You"--that of God. God is not a man with a long beard in the sky but Being...
2020-11-1230 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesVayera - Ancient Morality and Abraham - Episode 4What does it mean to be a "nice guy"? Where does morality come from? These are not trivial questions. Could it be that Abraham had more in common with Odysseus than with Jesus? Why are we so drawn to Michael Jordan, who could be mean, domineering, and brash? And finally, the important distinction between compassion through overflowing abundance and compassion through pity.IG: Stevehead0001steventobyweinberg.comMusic: Kendrick Lamar - "Humble"
2020-11-0538 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesLech Lecha - Yoga and the Rediscovery of our "Selves" - Episode 3The modern world limits us, both our bodies and our minds. Yoga teaches us how new body positions (asanas) can allow us to embody new selves. Modernity has also pressured us to view our sense of self in binary terms: we are either animal or human, strong or weak, East or West. Hermann Hesse's buddhist novel Der Steppenwolf allows us to visualize that there are thousands of selves within us. Finally, we learn that even Abraham had multiple selves.IG: Stevehead0001steventobyweinberg.comMusic: The Beatles - "The Inner Light"
2020-10-3028 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesNoach - The Drunkenness of Noah and the Dionysian/Apollonian Dichotomy - Episode 2In what is actually our third episode (the first episode is "episode 0"), we meet Noah, famous for steering a mighty ark through a torrential apocalypse, but less well-known for his work on a vineyard after the flood. We discover how both Apollo and Utilitarianism have, unfortunately, largely eclipsed the Dionysian and the Kantian in our society. We finally ask whether we may be constructing a new Tower of Babel without even realizing it.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Pink Floyd - "Atom Heart Mother"
2020-10-2336 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesBereishit - Adam and Eve and Nietzsche's Concept of Shame - Episode 1In this episode, we explore why Adam and Eve suddenly became aware that they were naked after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Nietzsche's loathing of shame provides a new way with which to view traditional notions of morality.steventobyweinberg.comIG: stevehead0001Music: Bob Dylan - "Gates of Eden"
2020-10-1625 minThe Schrift - Ancient Jewish Wisdom for Modern TimesThe Death of Moses and German Romanticism - Episode 0At first glance, the death of Moses just short of the Gates of Israel seems to be a cruel and unfair denouement for Judaism's greatest prophet. Yet, with the help of the Jena School, we can see Moses' "untimely" death as the ultimate gift and the pathway to the Eternal.steventobyweinberg.comIG: Stevehead0001Music: Jimi Hendrix - "Little Miss Strange"
2020-10-1620 min