{"id":46965,"date":"2019-01-11T15:54:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T21:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=46965"},"modified":"2019-01-11T15:54:06","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T21:54:06","slug":"off-the-pulpit-spiritual-fractals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-spiritual-fractals\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Spiritual fractals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

The cauliflower explains a lot about the Jewish tradition.<\/p>\n

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Our sages teach that the deeds of the ancestors are signs for the children. In other words, Jewish history repeats itself, and if you study the past you will discern many of the shapes of the present. This is Judaism\u2019s way of presenting history as a spiritual fractal. Look at the life of Jacob \u2013 the exile, the struggle, the dreams, the passing on of Judaism to future generations \u2013 and you will see the spiritual fractal of Israel.<\/p>\n

Nothing in history is exactly the same of course. But there are recurrent patterns in the experience of the Jewish people that validate the rabbinic insight. Jews are often called the people of the book, but we can also learn a lot from the cauliflower.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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