One
of the most important concepts that Jim Myers and I teach through the Tov
Center is about the importance of "Community." We live in a society
of individuals. Everyone is a "ME." Individual rights, needs and
wants take priority over those of community. Essentially, the "WE" is
disappearing from America, the nation famously known as “WE the people!” This
creates a problem that most people do not seem to be aware of -- without a "WE" there is no "ME."
Without a “WE” there is no righteousness; there is no kindness; there is no
justice; there is no Tov; and, there is no community without others! And, very importantly,
there is no shared Values Standard we can use to guide and measure human
relationships. Every “ME” is running around with his or her own “self-created
standard” measuring the world with it. Read Rabbi Leynor’s latest blog at -- http://tovcenter.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-power-of-collective-tov-creativity.html
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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