continued 1-2 Kohelet, T'hilim

T'hilim 34, 13
When you look at, see, the good in the world, you have a longer life. Ignore the bad things that catch your attention.
reminds me of the teaching/parenting theory of giving attention to the good behavior rather than the bad; kids usually, according to this, misbehave in order to get attention. I started using this when teaching; I try to ignore the kids who aren't behaving and just teach and pay attention to the good ones. If they want my attention, they have to participate and behave. With the seniors, since there's no time to catch up, I make it very clear that if they arent' going to behave and work they shouldn't show up, since they're ruining it for the hard workers who are weak and struggling. Also I encourage the good ones to tell they're friends to stop ruinign the lessons for them. It's not for me. Peer pressure should be for good class atmosphere.
Bereishit, Genesis, 2, 7 "nefesh kol chai" what makes a person, the soul of all living things
Masechet Sanhedrin, "man was created to work"
ripu'i b'isuk occupational therapy, healing through occupation/being busy
like the saddle, basket on the donkey, without it the donkey can't help you.
speech- there's something to say about anything

Everyone is made is made for work, of the right type
amal-hard work, very hard

speech, only humans, so important, powerful, can destroy
We must day divrei Torah, if we use those energies for good, otherwise dangerous, negative

14-n'tzur leshoncha merah stop your tongue from speaking evil
Speech has lots of physical barriers: lips, teeth, tongue
and we need to take a breath, too
Hearing's like living, most important sense. Those without hearing are restricted according to Jewish Law. Also, if someone destroys another's hearing he has to compensate as if he killed him.
There's lots that can be said in a permitted way.

15- sur merah, steer away from evil
Shmot, Exodus, 23, 7 stay away from evil
don't do the bad things, just good,
Most of Parshat Mishpatim (the portion of Laws) is just common sense.
We must be careful about what seems good now that it won't cause something bad later, like getting a good tan, eating chocolate, etc.
Dvarim, Duoteronomy,20, 10-18 peace vs war, read through
Man wants to be independent, individual, his own way, causes problems
I just panicked. Went into edit posts to to continue, and this wasn't there and searched all over. Then I clicked something new and found list of drafts, and here it was, along with some others that I was sure were swallowed in blog-ghostville. So now I'll continue, Baruch Hashem!
There are those who try to rule others, convince them of their ways. Hard to live in Peace, with all sorts of different ways, difficult.
Ok, this next one is much better in Hebrew, because the opposites come from teh same linguistic roots, so first I'll transliterate and then translate.
yachd--yachid
shleimut--shalom
together vs individual
completion (individual integrity?) vs peace

radfehu
running after it

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