Jewish Wisdom: Human Stories for Children

An overseas interview from Tel Aviv said: The Jewish nation is very powerful, with many rich people, many scholars, and many Nobel Prizes. And they are also unique in educating children. Rich families would take their children to the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence to see a statue. Children who have no money can\’t go anywhere, so their parents will take a playing card and show it to their children. The statue is of a handsome young man, the playing card is the King of Spades, and he is a strange old man with a curly beard. But this handsome statue and the old King of Spades are the same person! Michelangelo\’s statue of David is the world\’s top work of art. This David, when he grows a beard, he looks like the King of Spades – but what is he doing in nirvana? David was a shepherd boy, a brave and wise warrior. Legend has it that he invented the bolas…or slings, or similar weapons. In short, when he was fighting against the giant warrior Goliath, he tied a stone with a rope, held it in his hand and turned it around quickly, and then when he let go, he heard a whooshing sound, and the stone fell out of his hand like a meteor, as fast as an electric arrow, and there was a bang. Hit the giant on the temple. The giant was knocked down on the spot and his head was chopped off by David. David protected mankind, and his wisdom and bravery won the people\’s trust, so they made him king. It\’s for King David. Although King David was just, merciful and strict, there was something about him that future generations could not understand. David was the king and presided over the affairs of the country. He trusted a subordinate named Miffy very much. Miffy has poor legs and feet, but she is born rich and wealthy, and her family\’s treasures are piled up in a hill. He was extremely loyal to King David and determined to defend the king\’s honor and dignity. One day, King David encountered a rebellion. Miffy immediately dragged his inflexible legs and led his people to fight against the rebels. At the same time, he ordered a servant to quickly report to King David. I never expected that this servant was an extremely treacherous person. He came to King David and said, Great King, I have some sad news for you. Now there is a rebellion to overthrow your strict rule, but your favorite Miffy is colluding with the rebels. Even I, a servant, could not stand his evil deeds, so I came to tell the king. King David became angry when he heard this and immediately said: Now, I declare a law to confiscate all Miffy\’s property. And transferred these properties to the name of this loyal and brave servant. Ouch! The bad servant rejoiced, ran away with all the money, and joined the rebels, who in turn attacked King David. Although Miffy was deprived of his property by King David, he was not deprived of his loyalty. In the end, Miffy helped King David, defeated the rebels, and captured the bad servant. Then Miffy said: My wise king, fortunately we worked together and finally defeated this bad guy. Although we won, because this bad servant cheated and spread false news, all my property went to this bad guy. Now I ask the wise king to give back the property that should belong to me. The verdict comes back? The Bible records that: King David hesitated for a moment and said: It is already someone else’s property. Wouldn’t it be better if you wanted it back? …Miffy, how about we do this and let you and this bad guy servant share your property equally? What? …King David, are you out of your mind? Miffy was shocked at that time, and in great anger, he contradicted:King David, it was obviously this bad servant who was treacherous and conspired to steal my property. And since you are so heartless, why don\’t you give everything I have to this bad servant? ——King David was procrastinating and refused to amend the verdict quickly. Even though Miffy was innocent, he still wanted to give half of his property to a bad servant. Why is this? ——Some Jewish parents will tell this story to their children. And tell the children that there are profound human secrets hidden in King David’s judgment. King David, why don’t you happily return Miffy’s property? ——Because human nature is too fragile and cannot withstand the erosion of hatred. The relevant Talmud explains: Human nature is very weak and weak. Once you accept a lie or slander, you will never be able to escape its influence. You may have completely eliminated the erroneous information, or you may have understood the truth – but the imprint of the erroneous information in your mind can never be eliminated. Your subsequent actions will still be affected by this wrong information, and you will do wrong things that even you cannot understand. ——So, rationally, King David knew that he had been deceived by the evil servant, and knew that Miffy was still kind and loyal. But the hatred he had for Miffy when the evil servant first deceived him was still vividly etched in his heart and still dominated his behavior. Driven by hatred, King David subconsciously made an unfair decision, but he himself was not aware of his mistake at all. He even felt that he was wise and mighty. ——Each of us is actually King David. They are all driven by bad emotions and do many strange things that even they cannot understand. ——For example, everyone knows that reading is very important, but because I don’t know when or who has implanted decadent ideas in my mind. Just make up all kinds of excuses or reasons and never sit down to read. The most irritating thing is that the more people don\’t study, the more anxious they feel. The more anxious they are, the less they can concentrate on reading. It\’s just because they are like King David, their brains are damaged, they know right and wrong but cannot follow it. ——For example, everyone knows that in life, you must obtain social resources and become the protector of your family. Even children of several years old know this, but many adults cannot. It is because we are forced to accept the harassment of bad information every day, such as those who are not in business are not evil, and those who have money will become bad. These weird messages make many people involuntarily embark on the road to poverty even though they long for wealth. ——For example, everyone knows that the pursuit of wisdom will lead us to a state of happiness and gain the dual freedom and happiness of wealth and soul. But it\’s strange that some people are daunted by wisdom, shy away from others, make utilitarian words and deeds, make short-term choices, and live like a headless fly, suffering, tired, and full of grievances, but they just don\’t know how to change themselves. All these seemingly normal behaviors are actually extremely abnormal behaviors because, like King David, we have been fed into our brains highly corrosive misconceptions. Whether before or after we instill it, we all know that these concepts are wrong – but our brains have been damaged and corroded, so the resulting actions make us more and more The further away you are from yourself. People are the environmentproduct. ——What kind of environment you are in, what kind of person you will become! Any person\’s environment is full of bad information with higher intensity, more frequency, stronger smell, and more corrosiveness. ——David became king because he was wiser than ordinary people. But no matter how great his wisdom is, if he is immersed in bad information every day, like gold soaked in strong corrosive aqua regia, it will eventually disintegrate and become a dim-witted person who knows the truth but cannot follow it. Even the brave and wise King David could not escape the harm of bad information, let alone ordinary people like us? Therefore, smart Jewish parents will give their children a way to guide them to overcome bad information. When smart Jewish parents tell their children the story of King David and the fragility of human nature, they will teach their children this formula: old self + wisdom = powerful new self. People are changing all the time. There is a difference between who you were yesterday and who you are today. And the difference between you now and you when you were young is even greater. From babies to teenagers, and from teenagers to adults, people will become wiser and more tolerant-but, growing up in life is like sailing against the current, and they are always being swept away and harmed by bad information. Many people are physiologically mature and physically mature, but their minds are severely damaged and they are unable to shoulder the responsibilities of life. If you fall into decadence, the life formula will become like this: old self + depression = weaker, weaker and more ignorant. Which life formula the ego chooses, the person it will become is completely up to you! Bad information is nothing more than a negative, decadent, lazy, unenterprising, resentful, and overly indifferent mood and mentality. To combat these ubiquitous corrosive concepts, we need to constantly recharge and learn. There is a Jewish story about a girl who was passionately in love and visited her boyfriend\’s home. After entering the door, the girl\’s face darkened, she sat down for a moment to say goodbye, and broke up with her boyfriend when she went out. The boyfriend was very confused, chased after the girl and said: I really love you, and my parents also like you very much. Tell me, do you think our family is too poor, so you want to break up with me? The girl said: I don\’t think you are poor. I also know that you love me and that your family likes me. But I didn’t see a single book in your home—you were born in a family that doesn’t read, and you don’t like reading either! People will encounter too many confusions in their lives. How can people who don\’t study solve these confusions? People have to live a long, long time in their lives. People who do not pursue wisdom will be bored doing nothing. How can they obtain happiness and happiness? Life is not only about studying, but also about traveling around the world, visiting famous teachers, learning from the world and nature, and learning from communication with others – traveling, making friends and reading are three elements of life that pay equal attention to. Lose any one of them, and life will fall into a black hole of despair. Being poor is not terrible, but what is terrible is not seeking to make progress! Life becomes a miserable torture when you hang out with people who don\’t strive for advancement. Read good books, travel around the world, visit famous teachers, and make friends. Life is like sailing against the current, if you don’t advance, you will retreat! There are some indescribable metal particles in the air around us that can harm our bodies. At the same time, there is also a stronger atmosphere of decadence, which will damage us.mind and brain. All those who have been insulted and harmed are lost in the dark night of human nature. For example, King David, who was once brave and wise, was finally defeated by the decadence of human nature and the slander and slander of a few words. The quality of most people is worse than that of King David, and they are more seriously harmed by bad information. Confucian scholars say: The Taoist mind is weak, but the human heart is dangerous. The former said that the benign information around us will go to extremes if it is slightly biased. The latter said that the human heart is too fragile and will be hurt if you are not careful. The Buddha said: All living beings suffer, and we must turn around and find a safe place. The suffering of all living beings lies in the fact that their minds are damaged, they lose themselves, and they become dizzy. Turning around is just a warning to yourself, don\’t sink too deep into a decadent and lazy mentality. It\’s just a thought to wake up and make a decision. Mr. Yangming said: Everyone thinks that Yao and Shun – if you hope, if you work hard, if you start studying from now on, you will return to yourself and gain your inner conscience. All wisdom is just to find yourself. Then let\’s begin. All the suffering, all the resentment, all the hurt, all the sorrow in life are just self-tangles. It\’s just a damaged brain that doesn\’t allow us to behave the way we expected. The teachings of the Jewish family say that a person\’s life is nothing but two goals, wealth and wisdom. Whether we are pursuing wealth or wisdom, we only need to overcome the overwhelming current self, use a strong heart and determined learning actions to repair our psychological wounds. It\’s like Michelangelo discovering a beautiful boy in a rock. Our perfect self is also buried under the dust of the outside world. Come out bravely and face this beautiful world. There are endless flowers in the maze, and the roses on the rainy night are self-aware. A perfect life is nothing but an encounter with oneself, but choosing a correct life formula is nothing more than responding to the will of life, growing gently and calmly, rather than stubborn and futile self-confrontation!