Do you know this text- “Civilization will not be destroyed for lack of knowledge, but for lack of wonder” by Abraham Joshua Heschel? I confess, at first, while I wanted to love it, I doubted it. After all, aren’t educators in the business of knowledge? But then, I remembered this quote by Rachel Carson: “If I had influence with the good fairy…I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”
SPOILER ALERT: This video blog records a reflection of these texts- my realization that wonder makes all the difference. What is the power of wonder in your life?
A Sense of Wonder: Storytelling with Maggid David
Would you be willing to share your reflections and memories of awe and wonder here and with my guest blog on jewcology.com? Jewcology is a global Jewish environmental education web portal where this video is a featured blog this week. By sharing a response to this video, together we can create a wondrous library of awe, a sacred celebration of OUR wonder stories, reminding Jewish educators everywhere that touching the sacred is at the heart of all that we do.
PS NOTE: I’d like to emphasize that wonder AND knowledge make all the difference. We do not have to choose. As the Sfat Emet taught, (a great Chasidic teacher whose words are paraphrased here): The dwelling place is awe and wonder. Woe to the one who has no dwelling place, no place of awe and wonder- Woe to the one who spends their life in the gateway, attaining knowledge alone, and does not know of the dwelling place. (This Shavuot teaching can be found in the Language of the Truth, translated by Rabbi Art Green.)
I look forward to hearing your stories.
