Be kind to yourself. And others.

77% Weekly Newsletter

Ladino Text

Be kind to yourself. And others.

 #wisdom_biscuit: Be forgiving. Of yourself. And others.

I received a text message from my buddy, Fritz. It was typed in letters from the Hebrew alphabet. But it was neither Hebrew nor Yiddish; it was Ladino.

Yiddish evolved from Middle German being written in Hebrew letters. Ladino is a similar blend of Spanish and Hebrew.

I could recognize “Rabbi Brian” at the top of what Fritz wrote and very little else.

I gave him hearty praise for his skills. Nonetheless, Fritz replied, “I am afraid I made a few too many grammatical errors.”

I wrote back, “I pray I would be as forgiving of all issues in my life as easily as I am able to overlook grammatical errors in phrases texted to me in Ladino.”

This made me think.

About me. And about Fritz. And about you.

  • How willing are we to forgive the mistakes others make?
  • How difficult a time do we have in allowing ourselves to not be perfect?

This newsletter is called The 77% Weekly for a reason. Life is not an honors course – it’s pass/fail. And, so long as you are breathing, doing more good than harm, and acting more compassionately every year

 

#wisdom_biscuit: Be forgiving. Of yourself. And others.

Rabbi Brian Doesn’t Understand

In the 18th century, in Hannipol, a small district of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, in present-day western Ukraine, there was a rabbi known as Reb Zusya. Zusya, a pious man, taught about humility and had a strange habit of referring to himself in the third person. Instead of saying, “I am hungry,” or “I don’t understand,” he would say, “Zusya is hungry,”

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Travesty

I rewind the etymology podcast 15 seconds because I missed the details about the origin of the word travesty. I want to listen again—more closely—so I learn it, so I can recall it later in conversation… because if I tell you how travesty—from “traverse” and “clothing”—came to mean “shockingly unfair,” you’ll think I’m smart. Lost in that thought, I suddenly

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The Soup We Are In

Most of the time, even when we don’t really need to be rushing (and sometimes without realizing we are rushing) a really large percentage of us rush anyhow. Seems we are angled forward, always striving to get ahead. I get it. It’s the soup we are in. Our society conflates productivity, hurriedness, and worth. We take on the flavors around

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77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter