When was the last time you stopped to think? I mean, how often do we make decisions – and even important ones – based on what our neighbors/friends/co-workers are doing? How did we become a society that decides what to do and when to do it, based on whether or not “everyone will be there” or “everyone has it” or “everyone else is doing it”?
Some people have the attitude, as the saying goes, “thinking is the greatest torture in the world for most people.” I can empathize – on impulse I may want to buy something, but when I stop to think about it, I realize that I don’t need it or can’t afford it. Thinking can indeed be torture.
But a human being is a thinking being. That is what makes us unique, different from every other creation in this world. And thinking is essential to living as a Jew (especially in our part of the world!).
It’s all too easy to go through life allowing everyone else to make important decisions for us. “No one else around here keeps kosher” or “everyone enrolls their children in soccer on Saturdays.” If it’s important to send your child to, say, Hebrew School or Jewish Day Camp - why is it relevant to know how many other families will be involved and who else is sending their children?
If we would stop to think, we would realize that it is important to us that our family be raised in a Jewish environment. To accomplish that goal we must prioritize, we can’t do everything and raise a Jewish family. Then again, if we would stop to think, we would all weigh 10 pounds less…
It’s time we stop, to think.