Be kind to yourself. And others.

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.

Loving Enemies

Thoughts on loving our enemies ✧✧✧ Three Saturday Services in a row the group and I interacted around the topic of loving our enemies. Here are some thoughts related to our discussion. ✧✧✧ The “Love your enemies” trope is famously attributed to Jesus — in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. > Love your enemies, do good to those

Read More »

Oh, Honey.

Fall, 2025 I’m sitting in my favorite chair in the living room. The sky is getting darker. It’s almost dusk. I check the time: 4:40 p.m. The dark starts early these days. Especially in the Pacific Northwest. I make a mental note to take my vitamin D in the morning. ✧✧✧ Most weeks I get a bit panicked that I

Read More »

It’s o.k. to seek love.

Beloved reader, I am redoing the rotb.org website.  Again. Why am I redoing the website again? Because a website older than (blank) years is (blank minus one) years overdue for a facelift.  (The standard is three years for small sites and six years for large sites.)  ✧✧✧ While placing into the background a composite grid, 15 wide by five tall,

Read More »