To Follow the Ari’s Advice--In Conscience and in Direction R. Isaac Luria, otherwise known as the Ari z’l, used to say that, even before tefila or ritual, every day should be started by accepting upon oneself the mitzvah of ואהבת לרעך כמוך -- the mitzvah of loving your neighbor as yourself. As parents and as educators, we should remind our children -that all of our learning and actions should lead us to that goal of empathy. But how do we get there? What brings us to the realization of this mitzvah? Sometimes that means to follow the heart and feelings. Sometimes it means to follow the head and thoughts. But it always means to follow our moral muscle, to follow our conscience. Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he or she must take it because conscience tells her or him that it is right.” The central path toward the goal of empathy is to follow the conscience --- it will f
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Showing posts from June, 2018