Bonus: Scarred by life

77% Weekly Newsletter


The 77% Weekly
The 40/52-weeks-a-year, quick-reading, thought-lingering, spiritual-religious newsletter.

Religion-Outside-The-Box (oldrotb.wpengine.com) is a donation supported not-for-profit empowering adults to find and be with (the) God (of their understanding).  

Forward this issue to a Friend

BONUS ISSUE…
From the desk of Rabbi Brian

Unidirectional living

I haven’t written a full article on this topic, but what follows is such an awesome idea I needed to share it with you right away. I picked this up from listening to a recent Mary Hynes interview of Sister Joan Chittister about hope. (Here’s a link the full interview.)
Sister Joan was talking about her book, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope.
Here’s the gist of what she said,

  • There are moments in life that transform us.
  • Watershed moments.
  • Death, disappointment, despair.
  • We are mistaken if we think that our lives could ever go back to how they were before those moments happened.

My family is struggling with my father’s health.  While we might want things to go back to how they were, it’s just not going to happen.  Life is unidirectional.  We can’t go back.  No matter how much we would want to.  No matter how fervent our hope.
With wishes that we all find compassion and acceptance.  And, love,
Rb

The 77% Weekly

The 77% Weekly: The Religion-Outside-The-Box Newsletter helps people find and be with (the) God (of their understanding) 40 out of 52 weeks a year.

 

Why 77%?
Two reasons:
1) 40/52 = 0.76923. The newsletter is sent every Monday except the last of each month.
2) In school 77% was a passing grade and ROTB is delighted to remind you that life isn’t graded.

Religion-Outside-The-Box is a donation-supported,
non-denominational, internet-based, 501c3-tax exempt religious congregation.

 


 

What We Pass Down

July 17, 2026

“I have the honor of sitting with the Rabbi,” Martin says as I find my seat at the reception to celebrate his granddaughter’s Bat Mitzvah. At times like this, I’m not just Brian. I’m Rabbi Brian. A stand-in for God, Judaism, and all religious persons they’ve met in the past. ✧ ✧ ✧ “We pass the Torah from generation to

Read More »

See Me.

July 9, 2026

Shoes.Shoes.Shoes.  The long glass wall separates me from a display of more than 100,000 shoes at Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Men’s shoes and women’s shoes and children’s shoes and baby shoes.  Everyday shoes and work shoes and formal shoes and boots and sandals and slippers and high-heeled shoes and orthopedic shoes.  Woven sandals and wooden-soled shoes and leather shoes and cloth shoes.  Shoes

Read More »

Last Tuesday / This Tuesday

June 30, 2026

Last Tuesday. I’m sitting in an Adirondack chair, my feet resting on a well-weathered log here in Sisters, Oregon. It’s my family’s annual week-long vacation at the same beautiful house we’ve rented for the past four summers. My favorite spot. Just above the little creek. Most of my worries are 153 miles away. ✧✧✧ This Tuesday. I’m sitting in my

Read More »
77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter