"It used to be the custom to plant a cedar tree when a boy was born; a pine tree was planted for a girl. When the two were to be married the huppa (canopy) was woven from branches of both trees." ~ Gittin 57a Dreams of the future. A child is born and we begin to imagine what will come. The first steps, learning to read, balancing on a bicycle, education, graduation, a wedding. As a young father I remember the dreams I drafted in my mind for my first born. Meticulously, I planned out his future. He would grow unafraid of bullies, confident of his own strengths; he would be a gifted student and choose between the many schools that courted him. It did not matter to me what profession he chose, I thought magnanimously, as long as he was a learned man. As I aged, I saw the many terrible things that happen to children. There is disease, dangerous mistakes, substance abuse, accidents, self-hate, maliciousness by peers (and sometimes by friends) a...
Come for a dose of inspiration from some of the greatest (and at times oddest) minds of history. The table is set. Come eat.