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In simplicity there is a richness of life.

Simplicity is assessing what is necessary in life and what is excessive. By slimming down our appetites, possessions, and our desires, we can begin to experience the riches of a simple life.

Meditation

Featured
a path to non-hoarding
a path to non-hoarding

I can recall our second trip to Israel as a family, when our three children were 8, 6, and 6 respectively. We rented an apartment in Yemin Moshe for a week and soaked in Jerusalem like tenants.

Daily Questions

  1. Is there an area in your life (home, routine, possessions) where you struggle with simplicity?

  2. Do you have more than you need (food, home, possessions)? Why and how can you curb this?

  3. Is there a way that you simplified your life today? Are you happier with the simplicity? Did it bring a sense of freedom?

  4. Do you overcomplicate your life with excess? What is this excess? Sometimes the simplest solutions are like lighting a candle to remove darkness and chaos…what simple candle could you light to overcome your ‘darkness’?

  5. Do you find it difficult to be because of all the stumbling blocks you set in your path? Do you have simple goals?

  6. Do you have time-out moments where you can read a book or take a simple walk without technology?

  7. Examine your home. What in your home helps you to exist and what bogs you down?

 

Featured Articles

Featured
some uncomplicated time
rabbi russ resnik
elul, high holy days, torah
some uncomplicated time
rabbi russ resnik
elul, high holy days, torah

Could it be that we sometimes complicate our lives to avoid the simple, life-changing — and scary — encounter with the living God?

rabbi russ resnik
elul, high holy days, torah
keeping it simple
rabbi michael schiffman
daily living
keeping it simple
rabbi michael schiffman
daily living

My dad was a blue-collar worker. Having a handicap, he was not able to pursue the academic dreams he had as a young man. He delivered newspapers for the New York Post. It was a good, job, and he provided well for our family.

rabbi michael schiffman
daily living
simple riches
rebbetzin malkah
mesorah
simple riches
rebbetzin malkah
mesorah

Simplicity is intricately tied to the middah of gratitude. In having gratitude about what we have, we can live simpler lives and feel content with what we do have.

rebbetzin malkah
mesorah
a path to non-hoarding
rebbetzin malkah
meditation
a path to non-hoarding
rebbetzin malkah
meditation

I can recall our second trip to Israel as a family, when our three children were 8, 6, and 6 respectively. We rented an apartment in Yemin Moshe for a week and soaked in Jerusalem like tenants.

rebbetzin malkah
meditation
like children
rebbetzin malkah
besorah
like children
rebbetzin malkah
besorah

There's something about children: refreshing, honest, open, and simple. Not simple in a negative way, but in the best way possible. Our Rebbe Yeshua certainly knew this.

rebbetzin malkah
besorah
holiday simplicity
rav rafael
torah
holiday simplicity
rav rafael
torah

Around our home, Jewish holidays are elaborate affairs. While I tend to be focused on the ritual and teaching aspects of the holidays, I observe that each time they come around my wife turns into a full-time caterer.

rav rafael
torah
necessary or not?
rabbi russ resnik
besorah
necessary or not?
rabbi russ resnik
besorah

The REI catalogue arrived in the mail the other day and I discovered all kinds of things that I really needed, which I didn’t even know existed the day before. I got some relief after I sent the catalogue to the recycling bin, but later that day in a conversation with a friend I learned about several books that I absolutely had to read and a new movie I should definitely see while it was still in the local theaters.

rabbi russ resnik
besorah

Quotables

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"Who is rich? He who is happy with what he has." -- Avot 4:1, Ben Zoma

"Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  --Matthew 5:8

"As the wallet grows, so do the needs." — Yiddish proverb

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'"  --Hebrews 13:5

“People where you live," the little prince said, “grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don’t find what they’re looking for...” “They don’t find it,” I answered. “And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water...” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." — Albert Einstein

"It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it." — Lou Holtz

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." — Leonardo da Vinci

"There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth." — Leo Tolstoy

"Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires."  — Lao Tzu

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." — Kahlil Gibran