Imagine if you could actually fulfill this Jewish teaching. It is short and seems simple.
Yet it is somewhere between impossible and even against human nature to fulfill.
And yet if we could somehow bring ourselves to do it, doing so would change our lives for the better:
Reciting a blessing for health, happiness and good things feels intuitive. Hashem, thank you for our new child or grandchild. Hashem, thank you for my recovery from illness. Hashem, thank you for my surviving this accident or near miss. All that blessing flows from a grateful heart. But this famous teaching in Berakhot would challenge us to bless God for the reversals of life, for our loss, our illness, our pain. How is that even possible?
This Shabbat we have a special treat. Rick Stone is a master story-teller, and an expert in the field of story-telling. Learn more about Rick here. At our Talmud class this Shabbat morning, Rick will teach these three brief, evocative Hasidic stories (Trusting in God's Goodness, The Leaf, and The Remarkable Horse).Each is a response to the above teaching from Berakhot.
Do these stories convince you? How does story truth compare to our other modes of truth for engaging our mind, inspiring our heart, and motivating our deeds?