Zen Judaism

I was re-reading The Blessings of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel the other day, a book I've referenced before on this blog. I don't go for the religious aspect of it (and though from the subtitle you'd think it's hard to avoid, it's really not) but it's by far some of the best parenting advice I've ever read. One thing that has stuck with me recently was this part I can't find now, of course, but she recounts I think maybe a rabbi talking. The idea is to ask people--What's the single most important moment in Jewish history? And they'll give various answers like the exodus from Egypt or the return from Babylonian exile or the destruction of the second temple and the diaspora. Maybe someone would say the establishment of Israel or someone else would bring up Moses getting his copy of the Ten Commandments (forget hardcover). So there is this build up and you're thinking, okay, which is it? Who is it? Moses? Abraham? Jesus? Einstein? But it all feels pretty archaic and irrelevant to your life today. And then comes the answer. And suddenly everything feels so completely grounded and the universe stops expanding exponentially out of control and you're right where you are, where you're supposed to be. The single most important moment in Jewish history is right now.