Soon after I received The Elephant in the Room: Torah, Wisdom, and Inspiration for Life by Ron Yitzchok Eisenman Mosaica Press, a friend was over and noticed it.
“I love his stuff. I look forward to his daily emails. Haven’t I sent them to you?”
I must admit that I never looked into Rabbi Eisenman’s emails before. (Though FYI: You can subscribe to Rabbi Eisenman’s daily Short Vort email here.) You can find the Short Vorts here by clicking. Of course you can’t access the internet on Shabbat which is a reason why it’s a good idea to buy his books.
Rabbi Eisenman’s book is wonderful, full of a great variety very useful, commonsense stories and advice. Last week I even found myself quoting (more accurately paraphrasing) from one very special story, “Shalom Bayis,” page 126. (For the entire vort, click here.) It’s the story of a widower, who came to the rabbi for advice before marrying again. He was worried that his middle-aged never before married bride would have a problem being “a considerate wife.” The rabbi told him:
“I am confident that if you consistently display a sense of caring and concern for her, she will reciprocate in kind.”
When the rabbi met up with the man a few months later, he inquired as to how things are with them. The man told a story of how his wife had made a terrible mistake, but instead of chastising her and getting angry, the man decided to tell his wife that it was fine. That resulted in his wife being more caring and considerate than he ever could have imagined possible. I think that’s a very important lesson for all of us, especially me.
There’s a wide variety of topics covered in The Elephant in the Room by Rabbi Eisenman. It’s a nice book to have to pick for a special message. It would also make a great gift.
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