Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Elana Zaiman, on air from December 12th
I believe that we each want to better understand ourselves; make ourselves known to the people who matter to us most; deepen our relationships, and heal what may be broken between us.
We can do this by writing Forever Letters™.
Forever Letters share our values and wisdom; asks for forgiveness and offers forgiveness; expresses our gratitude and love. They are transformative, taking us to our ultimate truth, our authentic self. They enable us to live with the intention of being our best self. They are a gift of support and connection.
You can write to your parents, children, siblings, other family members, friends, colleagues, teachers, students, mentors … anyone who matters to you.
JOIN SARA AND ELANA AS WE DISCUSS THE GIFT OF A LETTER,
| ITunes | Spotify | Soundcloud |
| Amazon | Google play, | iHEART |
| Acast | onpodium | Anchor |
| Podvine | Radio Public. | FM Player |
| Launchpad | Mixcloud | Vurbl |
| Odysee | Youtube | Sticher |
My Path to Becoming a Rabbi and a Writer
I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island in a family of six: my mom and dad, me, my sister, Sarina, and my two brothers Ari and Rafi. All I knew growing up was that women could not be rabbis, at least not in the Orthodox synagogue where my grandfather served as the rabbi, not at the Orthodox elementary school I attended and not in the traditional Conservative synagogue where I belonged, and where my father was the rabbi.
History records the first woman rabbi to be Regina Jonas of East Berlin, Germany who was ordained in 1935. In 1972, when I was 10, Sally Priesand became the first woman rabbi ordained in America’s Reform movement. l knew nothing about these women until much later in my life, and though I had no childhood aspiration to become a rabbi, I did imitate my father on the rare Sabbath mornings I did not go to synagogue. I convened a congregation of my stuffed animals. I sat them in a circle on my bedroom floor, placed prayer books in front of their faces, kippot on some of their heads, and I became both rabbi and cantor, leading services, chanting traditional melodies, announcing pages and, I believe, delivering an occasional sermon.
My mission in my work, writing, and life is to bring people together; to enable all people (especially children, elders, and those who feel marginalized in our society) to be heard; to guide people to find meaning in their lives and to live into this meaning; to question the wrongs we encounter and to have the courage to change them; to do our best to right the wrongs we ourselves create; and to appreciate how each one of us is a precious and necessary gift that contributes to the larger whole of our world.
MORE ON THE BOOK AND ELANA’S WORK
AMAZON
http://elanazaiman.com
facebook.com/elanazaiman
linkedin.com/in/elana-zaiman
twitter.com/elanazaiman
More on your host Sara Troy’s shows,
choose-positive-living
FIND MORE SHOWS OF ILLUMINATION HERE
All of our shows/interviews are done by donation, if you enjoyed this show please support us here.
Clifton West has led an extraordinary life disguised as an ordinary man. Life has afforded him a wonderful childhood, an exciting world-class track career that put him on the path to the Olympics, a successful and thriving business and the opportunity to travel throughout the world. One would think that all of this success would change a person, perhaps cause them to feel that they are somehow “better” than others. For Clifton West that could not be further from the truth.
In his book “Of Life and Time” Clifton West chronicles his life and what was going on in the world during these times. A child of the late fifties, a teenager of the 60’s and a young adult of the 70’s, Clifton’s book is rich with memories of those times and the lessons learned while growing up. He shares with how he came to learn that a life rich in love and peace is much more precious than attaining worldly success. Clifton’s book shares the soul-substance of an extraordinary life lived by an ordinary person. It attempts to provide a personal yet inclusive testimony of a spiritual journey that has brought him to discover his true life’s purpose. Clifton describes how this living and breathing phenomenon called ‘life’ moving within this ever-advancing entity called ‘time’ provides for us all a profound introduction to our life’s purpose.
Olympic Trials. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he embarked on a business career, first at IBM and then, in 1976, he became one of the first black owners of a computer software firm. He later restarted his running career, this time as a sprinter – almost unheard of in track, a miler turned 100- and 200-meter specialist – and made the 1977 U.S. 4×400-meter relay team that competed on the world track circuit. He also coached track at Cal, MIT and, for a spell, Sacramento’s Christian Brothers High School. The author is Clifton L. West III, the firstborn of Clifton L. West, Jr. and Irene Bias West. He is the older brother to Dr Cornel R. West, Cynthia R. West-McDaniel, and Cheryl L. West. He is the father of two children (Erika Lynn and Cornel Jamine), stepfather to one child (Brianna Denise), grandfather to four children (Deja Marie, Roni Rachel, Cadence and Corrin), and great-grandfather to two children (Kaden Kameron) and the husband to Leticia Leonor Mendez.
You must be logged in to post a comment.