Word: rabbies
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When Sherre Hirsch, a Los Angeles rabbi, had adolescent woes about boyfriends or school, her grandmother used to repeat an old Yiddish saying: "We plan, God laughs." Hirsch, now 39 and the mother of three children, says, "I heard it all the time. I realized for me and for so many people, that was sort of the theme of their life. It just wasn't turning out like they expected. And in some ways they thought God was laughing at them." Now, Hirsch gives out her own brand of comforting advice, in her new book, called - what else? - We Plan...
...Rabbi Sherre Hirsch: Of course people come to me with true tragedies and that's unfortunately a very difficult part of my job. But a huge amount of disappointments that people come to me with are the ones they're afraid to talk to their friends about, because it would sound trite. For example, "My boyfriend broke up with me and I thought we were going to get married." Or "I thought I would get pregnant easily and I can't." "I felt my husband would be different." "I thought my job would give me meaning, and it just gives...
...What is it like for a Rabbi to have people bring all of their troubles to you? Is that hard to handle...
...Rabbi Pollock was cautious, of course - likening an ancient religion to children's fiction may not be particularly prudent in a country that is home to more holy sites and razor wire than anywhere on earth...
...couple of days later, I called Rabbi Dr. Chaim Pollock, Dean of Foreign Students at the Michlalah Jerusalem College, whom I had read had also used the Harry Potter analogy. He seemed somewhat embarrassed that I was asking him about the topic. "Harry Potter is fiction," he said. He had never suggested that it spoke to the Jewish experience specifically. He had just defended its emphasis on good and evil back when a lot of religious leaders were denouncing the books as occult. "The following, I think I can tell you," he said, warming slightly to the topic. "Rowling...