Stories to wake you up: wisdom tales and Jewish stories with Yaakov Nadler

When Good Goes Unseen: A Story of Inner Blindness

A flutist who gives up his flute to becomes a price…if only he can go back to being himself!

Don’t Shoot Until Punched: using what we have within

In this episode, I share a powerful interpretation of the story of Rabbi Eliezer Ben Durdaya from Living Time: Rabbi Shagar’s profound approach to the Jewish holidays. Rabbi Shagar blends Hasidic and philosophical ideas, creating sermons that dive into each holiday’s texts, mitzvot, and custom. I start with a joke. I heard a long time ago about an Israeli whocaptured by a tribe of cannibals. The chief tells him, “We’re going to eat you, but as a gesture of kindness, we’ll grant you one final request.” The Israeli thinks for a moment and says, “Okay, I want you to punch me—hard, right in the face.” The chief is confused but agrees. He winds up and delivers a powerful punch to the Israeli’s face. Immediately, the Israeli reaches into his pocket, pulls out a gun, and shoots all the cannibals. The chief, lying on the ground, barely alive, gasps, “If you had a gun all along, why didn’t you shoot us earlier?” The Israeli replies, “Well, I didn’t want to be condemned by the UN as being an aggressor.

The secret under the Rocks

We may argue and forget about what’s really important. I read this story that in Dr. Jorge Bucay מי אתה? https://www.keter-books.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%99-%D7%90%D7%AA%D7%94

Learning from Simpletons

A sweet story about Rabbi Yanai who invites a guest thinking that he is a great scholar. Turns out he has a lot more to teach him than Torah. “Derech Eretz Kadmah Letorah!” Story is from Medrsh Rabbah ויק"ר ט, ג

Purim of Saragossa

I heard this story from Rav Eyal Vered of Yeshivat Mechon Meir in Jerusalem. I remembered it as Purim Grenada. I recently learned more about the tradition: https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/פורים_סרגוסה