The Possible Is Profound

Kim Richey's Chinese Boxes is providing a more than pleasant soundtrack to this pre sleep post.

I received 3 emails today about this Birchat HaChama incident written up in The Times 112 years ago (sic). It doesn't float my boat, but some people seem to get a big kick out of it. Maybe you will.

Over the years since Aaron passed there has been an annual yahrtzeit shiur. The past speakers have all been Y.U. Rosh Yeshivas (Rabbis Wiilig, Schachter, Twersky, etc). This year's speaker was a noted Gateways presenter, Rabbi Eytan Feiner. His presentation was in contrast to the ones of other years in several ways, one of the differences being his cultural/secular references.

I learned from him that Marc Salem wrote a book. You may recall a Marc Salem video I linked to in December. Here it is again for your perusal. I find what he does to be intriguing. Tonight I asked Barnes and Noble to order The Six Keys to Unlock and Empower Your Mind: Spot Liars & Cheats, Negotiate Any Deal to Your Advantage, Win at the Office, Influence Friends, & Much More for me (no charge/obligation for the store to order and hold it) so I can take a look at it.

He referenced The Little Prince's statement that there is some underlying, fascinating subtext to the silent desert. He said that this relates to the connection between the Hebrew word for speech and desert.

He cited Dale Carnegie and said that Rav Elya Lopian was a fan of Mr. Carnegie. (I believe that it was Rav Dessler and not Rav Lopian, as Rabbi Josh Hoffman informed me. This is supported by the passage from the Yashar Books website that follows:

Rabbi Ari Waxman writes: "On a similar topic, I am attaching Rav Yoel Katan's article (PDF), printed in Hamaayan, Nissan 5752, which deals with a maamar of Rav Dessler given in Ponevitch during Elul 1949 and appears in Michtav MeEliyahu, Vol. IV, P.234. Rav Katan claims that it is based on Dale Carnegie's writings. Actually, before I read this article I heard a rumor about Rav Dessler being fond of Dale Carnegie's writings and I called Rabbi Aryeh Carmel in an attempt to clarify.

Rabbi Carmel confirmed the rumor telling me that Rav Dessler felt that the writings of Dale Carnegie are beneficial to the avodah of Mussar. I asked Rabbi Carmel if Rav Dessler read the books themselves and he clarified, "No, Rav Dessler didn't actually read the books, but rather he read an article in Reader's Digest which gave a synopsis of Dale Carnegie's principals."

(At one point in our conversation Rabbi Carmel's wife, who suspected that the person on the other side of the line was having a difficult time swallowing the information, yelled out from the background, "Tell him - Mekol melamdai hiskalti! Mekol Melamdai hiskalti!")

There's a great book called Smileage. The following Either/Or Questions come from that work (pg. 96).

Would you rather:

1. play in a super successful band or be moderately successful as a solo artist?
2. ski down a glacier or sunbathe in the Caribbean?
3. negotiate a peace treaty or lead a revolt against an evil empire?
4. go on an archaeological dig in Israel or explore the surface of Mars in a spacecraft?
5. work as a fireman or a police officer?
6. take lessons in karate or ballroom dancing?

Opportunity;

The possible is profound

Believe, breathe, create

o

May G-d bless us all, everyone. Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.

P.S. This article struck me. It's about a priceless, blood coated, hundred dollar bill.

P.P.S. This research/data fascinates me. It's about the teen brain.

P.P.P.S. Step away from the keyboard...