Improving Moral Vocabulary

Eric Greitens is the author of The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL. He has been blogging all week for the Jewish Book Council and MyJewishLearning‘s Author Blog.

In Tuesday’s post, I talked about how stories give us strength in trying times. Stories also have the power to repair and transform the reader and the writer.

Continue reading here.

The Strength of Judiasm. The Courage of Social Justice.

Eric Greitens‘s most recent book, The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL, is now available. He will be blogging all week for the Jewish Book Council and MyJewishLearning’s Author Blog.

In the preface of The Heart and the Fist, I explain to the reader that I’ve been lucky enough to learn from amazing warriors and humanitarians alike. Through this book, I hope to share how their work and their stories inspire me.

How do stories relate to the narrative of social justice and Judaism? The human mind is narrative; we tend to think in stories, and there is a strength in story and tradition. In some of our most dire times, we look to stories because they give us strength. Continue reading here.

An Empty Mental Space

Earlier this week, Dr. Erica Brown asked, “What are the Three Weeks, anyway?”, and wrote about learning to mourn. Her new book, In the Narrow Places, is now available.

Jewish law is based generally on the assumption that our emotions follow our actions. If we act charitably, we will become, over time, more compassionate human beings. Continue reading here.

 

Reference Find

Posted by Dani Crickman

Just found out about this beefy-looking reference collection on Jewish Americans–a new addition to an ongoing series from Salem Press.

Continue reading here.

Learning to Mourn

On Monday, Dr. Erica Brown asked, “What are the Three Weeks, anyway?” She will be blogging all week forMyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council‘s Author Blog.
We have become who we are as a people not only by celebrating our most joyous collective occasions, like Passover and Shavuot, but also by our capacity to mourn as a group for that which we’ve lost or never experienced.  Continue reading here.