If the sudden emergence of secular communities speaks to a desire for human connection and a deeper sense of meaning, their subsequent decline shows the difficulty of making people feel part of something bigger than themselves. One thing has become clear: The yearning for belonging is not enough, in itself, to create a sense of home.

In claiming to offer a multipurpose, multi-user remedy for all occasions, mindfulness oversimplifies the difficult business of understanding oneself. It fits oh-so-neatly into a culture of techno-fixes, easy answers and self-hacks, where we can all just tinker with the contents of our heads to solve problems, instead of probing why we’re so dissatisfied with our lives in the first place.

When we read about famous people ruining their lives or hear about normal people becoming famous for public follies, we shake our heads in wonder. We tell ourselves we’d never do anything like that.

But science tells us that we would, far more often than we’d like to believe… George and I named this phenomenon “brainshift” and found that it happens in two distinct situations: those involving high anxiety and those associated with major reward.

The goal of this column isn’t to make a prediction. The goal is to draw a map that leads to a certain result: Netanyahu loses — somebody else takes his place. It’s the map at the core of many political calculations by the prime minister and his rivals. For him, it’s the map to avoid. For them, it’s the map to follow.

I’d never met anyone like Daniel. During my WASP-y upbringing, I never learned about chutzpah. I was afraid to honk my horn at someone, and wouldn’t dare start a meal without putting a napkin on my lap. I was so wound up and scared of doing anything out of the ordinary in case I got into trouble.

Daniel didn’t care. He was a rule bender. He was fearless.

The 10th grade students, focusing on modern history and including a unit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, were being introduced to the Hamas charter redacted to exclude the most inflammatory anti-Semitic clauses; materials that identified Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel and Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine; a map of Jerusalem that referred to the Old City’s Jewish Quarter as a settlement; and a discussion of the one-state and two-state solutions, both containing nothing but voices critical of Israel. There was no mention of Palestinian wrongdoing, they noted, nor any attempt to present Israel as anything but a malevolent occupier of Palestinian land.

“It’s the perfect model for any government. It would be nice if we picked the new leader, the old leader puts his hand on his shoulder, tells him some nice thing and moves on. But in our Torah portion, things don’t work that way.”

Zelophehad’s daughters speak justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer their father’s inheritance to them.-Numbers 27:7

Rabbi Scott N. Bolton: From narrative rises responsibility; we must all claim our rightful portions in the Promised Land. Today, the daughters are teaching us: The Jewish heart and willingness to make the legal case must be the work of every man and woman among the Jewish people.

This is a critical moment in the Torah for women’s rights. Except for the caveat thrown in at the end that brings it all crumbling down. Power is intoxicating for those who have it. When you are in a place of power sharing it feels like giving it up. In fact, when we share power and equality with all we are all stronger.

Micah Odenheimer, founder of the Tevel B’Tzedek NGO talks about building teams in the Third World to help villagers sustain themselves.

“The Talmud actually says that famine is always political and economic. Scarcity comes through economics.”

“Here are some things that don’t go together. Caviar and Cheetos. Dostoevsky and Six Flags. Jews and the NFL. But just like there’s probably someone, somewhere who likes cheetos with their caviar, and another person who read Crime and Punishment on a roller coaster, today we’re joined by a Jew who was in the NFL.”

Doctor Avi Shilon and Shmuel Rosner talk about the leadership ability of Israel’s prime ministers.

“Most leaders today are trying to imitate Begin. But the Israeli public is smart enough to know that when a politician quotes from the Torah, it might be a political maneuver or manipulation. With Menachem Begin it was authentic.”