30/40 Compassion

The 77% Weekly

The 77% Weekly gives you wisdom_biscuits:

something tasty, digestible, and filling — 40/52 weeks-a-year

26/40

From Rabbi Brian

NOTE: The story in this article might seem familiar. I wrote this, gave it to my editor, and she pointed out that I had previously published this story in 2009: 28/40. Still, the moral is an important one.

Compassionate or other?

Consider the following five attributes:

Compassion
Wisdom
Cleverness
Kindness
Intelligence

Which one best describes you?

If we were to take an honest assessment of your character – if we were to ask people with whom you interact on a daily basis – which quality would they say best reflects you?

Are you wise? Compassionate? Clever? Kind? Or smart? Something else?

Which of the above five characteristics would you most like to be?

Rabbi Brian is the CEO and chief columnist of Religion-Outside-The-Box

– seeking to empower adults to find and be with (the) God (of their understanding).

His day job is instructing mathematics at De la Salle Catholic High School, North Portland.

The rest of the time is with his family.

> 77%

@wisdom_biscuit

While I certainly take pride in my creativity, my outside-the-box, divergent thinking, I would rather be known for being kind than for being smart or wise.

I’ve come a long way from my childhood when clever and smart were über-paramount to my sense of self worth, and I’ve got a ways to go still.

There’s a great quote by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who said,

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

I strive to open up more towards my fellow human beings and be kinder.

How about you?

What’s most important to you?

Which quality do you need to develop in your life?

Which would make you more human?

Which would bring you a fuller, richer life?

What steps can you take to cultivate more of that particular characteristic in yourself?

Spiritual-religious advice: Be the quality you most want to be.

With love,

Rabbi Brian

more than just 77%

my tweets @wisdom_biscuit

Support ROTB…

Schedule a monthly recurring donation to ROTB and receive a FREE DOWNLOAD “How To Deal With Impossible People.”

$77 a month

$6.42 a month
($77 a year)

$3.34 a month

($1 an issue)

Or, make a one-time donation …

$1000	$180	$77	$15

I thank you. -Rb

ROTB’s newsletter, website, and podcasts cost thousands of dollars to publish and maintain. Please consider making a US tax-deductible contribution to help defray the costs. Details about donations to ROTB.

Me, Rabbi.

February 25, 2026

✧✧✧ I am a rabbi. I have a Masters Degree in Hebrew letters and a Doctorate of Divinity, and I am ordained as a rabbi. I have each credential framed, in my office, just behind where I sit. They’re not individually affixed to the wall—they lean against one another in a stack. I like the

Way Through

February 14, 2026

✧✧✧ Hugh’s dad died a few weeks ago. Hugh is a dear friend and Presbyterian minister in Waterloo (just west of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. I call, we small-talk for a while, and then I ask, “How is your heart?” “I appreciate you asking. My heart is heavy and sad.” ✧✧✧ I love Hugh.I mean, how many people do you know

Flash Bang

February 6, 2026

✧✧✧ My buddy Marc meets me near my house at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon so we can bike to the small park named for Elizabeth Caruthers. I looked her up as I started to write this article. Elizabeth Caruthers was an early pioneer woman whose Supreme Court case led to the 1850 Donation Act—ruling that a woman, married or not,

30/40 Compassion

Related

Me, Rabbi.

Way Through

Flash Bang