9 essential things about life según Rabbi Kushner

Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned about Life by Harold Kushner

“As always, Rabbi Kushner writes in a way that makes deep religious thought accessible to the casual reader while giving the more sophisticated reader a great deal to ponder. . . . This is a book that will stimulate your mind and encourage you to examine what are the lasting lessons in your life.” —The Jewish Book Council

Chapter Titles:

• Chapter One: Lessons Learned Along the Way
• Chapter Two: God Is Not a Man Who Lives in the Sky
• Chapter Three: God Does Not Send the Problem. God Sends Us the Strength to Deal with the Problem
• Chapter Four: Forgiveness Is a Favor You Do Yourself
• Chapter Five: Some Things Are Just Wrong. Knowing That Makes Us Human
• Chapter Six: Religion Is What You Do, Not What You Believe
• Chapter Seven: Leave Room for Doubt and Anger in Your Faith
• Chapter Eight: To Feel Better About Yourself, Find Someone to Help
• Chapter Nine: Give God the Benefit of the Doubt

Rabbi Kushner’s essential things & my thoughts:

1. Lessons learned along the way—
   • I am still learning these in my life. I seek more wisdom and reflection with life lived.
2. God is indefinable—

   • “I believe in the reality of God the way scientists believe in the reality of electrons. I see things happening that would not happen unless there is a God.” — Harold Kushner

   • Exodus 3:13-14: “But,” said Moses to God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

3. God doesn’t create the problems, but if sought, God will provide the strength to get through them—

   • “God does not send the problem; genetics, chance, and bad luck do that. And God cannot make the problem go away, no matter how many prayers and good deeds we offer. What God does is promise us, I will be with you; you will feel burdened but you will never feel abandoned.”  — Harold Kushner

   • “I find God not in the tests that life imposes on us but in the ability of ordinary people to rise to the challenge, to find within themselves qualities of soul, qualities of courage they did not know they had until the day they needed them. God does not send the problem, the illness, the accident, the hurricane, and God does not take them away when we find the right words and rituals with which to beseech Him. Rather, God sends us strength and determination of which we did not believe ourselves capable, so that we can deal with, or live with, problems that no one can make go away.”  — Harold Kushner

4. Forgiveness is a favor you do for yourself—

   • “Resentment is like drinking/taking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies” — hotly debated to whom this can be attributed 

5. Some things are wrong. Having a conscience is what makes us human. It is innate and seemingly God-given—
   • – ??
6. Religion isn’t what you believe. It is what you do—
   • Mission work, bible study, active participation in worship and fellowship are religion.
7. Leave room for anger and doubt in your relationship with God—
   • We are not supposed to understand it all. We are creation. We are not God.
8. If you want to feel better, help others—
   • There is a Chinese saying that goes:
     

     “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”

   • For it is in giving that we receive — Saint Francis of Assisi

   • The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity — Leo Tolstoy

   • We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give — Winston Churchill

9. Judaism is a religion of “not yet”. The world isn’t yet what it could or should be, but we are to keep moving forward in order to make the world better. Living a life of ethical and righteous behavior will serve as an example to others and hopefully assist in making the world better— This reminds me of the Bible verse from Matthew 5:14-16:

   • “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”