Goals Update: May
Hi, all, I hope you had a nice YT. I was at my aunt with two of my sisters (one single, one married with her family) while my parents were at another sister. We had amazing cheese babka and I read two books I enjoyed very much:
Learning What You Need
Sometimes I feel like a fraud writing about “learning” topics because that’s not something that feels natural to me right now. What I mean is, I’m having a difficult time starting and certainly sticking with learning a sefer, book, etc. I also have a hard time sitting through shiurim and haven’t gone to any in a while.
Summer on the Way
Good chodesh Sivan to you! This is my Hebrew birthday month.
Counting Up
I heard a nice idea about Sefiras Ha’Omer last Shabbos. The question that is often asked is why we count up towards matan Torah, when we ordinarily would count down towards an exciting event?
(Gentle) Planning Principles
I’ve been enjoying the odd episode now and then of The Lazy Genius podcast and I wanted to share a few of my favorite principles for life organization,
Where You Tend a Rose
Just a little post to share a beautiful line from The Secret Garden, by Frances Hogsdon Burnett.
Mincha
I just learned that not all animals are either diurnal (active by day) or nocturnal — some animals are crepuscular (active by twilight – dawn and dusk). I thought this was interesting because I never really thought about those times as distinct from day and night. But of course they are.
Research Interests
A friend and I were discussing how we miss being taught interesting topics through the lens of the Jewish sources. When we were in seminary together, we had to write a few in-depth papers on various topics and the research process was really interesting.
A Values Quiz
Recently, I had my students discuss a values worksheet in small groups, identifying and sharing their own core values. So I had values on my mind when I listened to a Gretchen Rubin podcast episode with Suzy Welch, who recently created an online values quiz.
Thinking About Collections
At the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, I enjoyed perusing the collection of paintings of La Belle Époque