Style & Living

Recap: Yehudis discovers the truth that she was adopted. She feels upset and betrayed by her parents for not telling her.

 There’s nothing harder as a therapist than withholding a helpful comment. Over the course of treatment, defenses are active and timing is crucial. Therefore, interventions are calculated. At times, movie-worthy one-liners surface in a clinician’s head, begging to be executed. These carefully placed comments, questions, or thoughts, can produce colossal changes in a client’s life - just maybe not yet. It is challenging to stay silent because we all have a desire to help. Not just therapists or others in the helping professions. Helping others is the fuel that gives us all purpose, and reminds us that the world is bigger than ourselves.

Recap:  Yishai returned home without convincing his brother Ezra not to get involved with Aaron Burr. Ezra, Miriam, and Dovid come for a visit and all goes well until the subject of Aaron Burr comes up. Ezra refuses to listen, even when his father reads him articles from the paper stating that Aaron Burr is involved in something treasonous.

Under New York law, there are several recognized grounds to contest a Will, which are as follows: Lack of Due Execution, Lack of Testamentary Capacity, Revocation, Fraud, Undue Influence/Duress, and Forgery. It is important to note that Mistake is not considered valid grounds to contest a Will.  In addition, an individual seeking to contest or object to a Will (an “Objectant”) must have “standing”.  In order to have standing one must be a beneficiary under the propounded Will (a “Legatee”), be a descendant of the decedent (a “Distributee”), or have an affected pecuniary interest; i.e., they would receive less under this propounded Will or would receive a greater share of the decedent’s estate if the propounded Will was deemed invalid and disregarded by the Court.

There is much in this world

We don’t understand.

Sometimes we must just say,

“Well, G-d has a plan.”

But we do have direction,

It’s a straight path, because

We were given a roadmap:

The Torah and its laws.

Mishpatim, the laws

By which we live,

Are rational and intuitive,

They appeal to our logic.

They feel correct,

They align with our morals

And intellect.

Conversely, a chok

Seems nebulous;

It doesn’t make much sense to us.

Why do some of Hashem’s commands

Defy explanation,

Subject us to the ridicule

Of the nations?

Their rationale is elusive,

But the discerning still attempt

To cull shards of insight,

To learn what is meant.

The discipline and commitment

To chukim instill

Pure obedience to G-d’s will.

At Y’tzias Mitzrayim

The whole world saw

Hashem’s existence,

His Might and Awe.

The world was G-d’s plaything

When He set the Hebrews free.

But this awareness

Was witnessed externally.

At Matan Torah, revelation

Reached each soul directly.

All who were there

Received prophecy.

The milkmaid, as well as

Forefathers of kings,

All gathered under,

The Sh’chinah’s Wings.

Beyond our boundaries

Of capacity,

Post-rational consciousness,

Veracity.

In every moment,

Of every season,

Truth resides in a realm

Beyond human reason.

Judaism does not reject

Rationale, when it’s shown.

But, it is seen as

A stepping stone

To something higher,

Extraordinary and sublime:

Something that eclipses

Space and time.

Nine red heifers

Were burnt;

Their ashes purified.

There will be a tenth

When Mashiach arrives.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu,

Your chukim elude us, yet

Your chesed always

Precedes emes.

Please forgive us

When we stumble

Through the challenges we face;

We turn to You,

For You receive us with grace.

As we struggle

To decipher life’s acronym,

Mysterious as the ways

Of your chukim.

By Sharon Marcus

Recap: Dovid was bitten by a snake and a Native American woman named Holata helped cure the bite. Yishai stayed longer to help his nephew. Eventually, he had to go back home and he hated leaving Dovid and he worried about his brother being involved with Aaron Burr.