Said to Myself

Phranz Kaphka

Published by

ravhiorlow

on

I am a  fan of Franz Kafka. For me he optimizes the ideals of what it means to be Jewish beyond the limitations of Halacha. From his writing we see that he was totally in tune with the human condition, extremely alienated from society, and hugely creative. Once asked about his being Jewish Kafka responded, “What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself”

Avraham declared, “I am a stranger and a dweller with you; give me a burial place with you so I may bury my dead before me” (Genesis 23:4). Rashi explained this verse, “I am a stranger and a dweller with you – a stranger from a different land that has settled with you.” Kafka was a voice for the modern Avraham. It is as if he took the next logical step in intrepting what it meant to be Ger V’Toshav. Pushing us to realized in the modern world we need to deal with the depths of alienation.

Recently my son Yadid used a perminant marker on a piece of furnature. I was upset to see it, but it was hard to punish him when when I saw what he wrote. Who was I going to blame?

I am Not my selph

Leave a comment

Previous Post
Next Post

Recent posts

Quote of the week

But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then erase me out of the book you have written.

~ Exodus 32:32

Said to Myself

About

My name is Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow. I have always had a deep love for the Jewish people and making the world a better place. It was while building community in the Former Soviet Union for YUSSR that I realized the transformative power of being a rabbi. After spending time learning in Israel, I moved to New York to be a charter student in Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, the Open Orthodox Seminary. After graduating in 2004 until 2008 I served as the Rabbi and ran the program at St. Louis Hillel at Washington University. Now I have the great pleasure of thinking about how Judaism is seriously fun. In my mind I am up at camp every day in my work at the Foundation for Jewish Camp. My wife, Cantor Adina Frydman, and I are the proud parents of Yadid, Yishama, Emunah, and Libi.

Said to Myself

When my son Yadid was four years old he came home from daycare and reported to me that he got into trouble. He got put into timeout for throwing sand at another child. Yadid said,” Myself said to myself, I do not want to be in timeout. Myself said to my cry, I do not want to cry”. And with that we started a conversation about his conscious life. It seemed only fitting to continue that conversation with a blog with the same name.

אָמַרְתִּי אֲנִי בְּלִבִּי

My son spoke in the words of Ecclesiastes, “I said in my heart: ‘Come now, I will try you with mirth, and enjoy pleasure’; and, behold, this also was vanity.” (Kohelet 2:1) My mission is to model a life that is personally meaningful, universally relevant, and distinctly Jewish. I aspire to be frank and to speak of Torah in real life.

Topics

Follow Us

Blog at WordPress.com.