Pearls of Jewish Wisdom on Living with Kindness

Book excerpt: In this book, we will share forty lessons, each with its own unique theme. The common thread to the series is living with deeper kindness. How can the Jewish tradition inspire us to live with deeper love and compassion? How can Jewish pearls of wisdom inform how we care for one another? The book contains five sections: Kindness Toward Specific Individuals; Kindness Toward All Individuals; Kindness Through Restraint; Care for Our Environment; and Self-Improvement as a Catalyst for Kindness to Others. The first two sections address proactive kindness towards our fellow humans; the third addresses kindness by avoiding hurting others; the fourth, kindness towards all of God’s creations, including animals and nature, as kindness cannot be only people-directed; the fifth serves as a starting point and catalyst for all of the above, for without first being kind to ourselves and improving our general character we cannot be truly kind towards others. The argument is not only that God wants us to live with kindness and that Torah necessitates it, but that kindness has the greatest chance of bringing happiness and meaning to our lives.