Relevant Reflections on God, Life, and Love

My current favorite book is  Judaism for the World: Reflections on God, Life and Love by rabbi and scholar Arthur Green. I LOVED it and learned from every page.

At one point, Rabbi Green observes that while Jewish texts are more accessible than ever thanks to recent translations and interpretations, much of it is highly academic. We’re taught to engage the head, focusing on names, dates and historical accuracy… but not the heart. There’s a need, he says, to reconnect The Tree of Knowledge to the Tree of Life – to read Torah as a source of inspiration and wisdom.

In my mind this connects immediately to Chai Mitzvah, because that’s what we do!  Within small, intimate groups, we gain knowledge through exposure to new texts and old texts read anew, and we connect this knowledge to our own lives. The texts inspire us to self-reflect, share our ideas, and consider 21^st century applications.  We chat, we laugh, we reveal our own stories and in this way gain wisdom.

If you’ve participated in our groups, you’ve no doubt experienced this. We’re not a literacy class and we don’t lecture, but there’s a whole lot of learning going on. We use our heads and come away with open, more appreciative hearts. (And more friends. Not the Facebook kind—real friends.)

In what ways have you experienced this in our groups – made new friends, learned something unexpected and brought the learning to your own life?

We’d love to hear, please respond below!