Stories to wake you up: wisdom tales and Jewish stories with Yaakov Nadler

I heard the story from Jerry Stiller. About a man who prays for a donkey to take him up the Mountian an Arab comes and forces him to carry his donkey up the Mountian. His prayer had the opposite result. After much drama his prayers were answered.

The time of joy.a compilation to help you set the intention when sitting in your Sukkah. A story by Babba the storyteller, Rabbi Mendy Cohen of Sacramento, a sharp witted Chossid and Leo Tolstoy זצ״ל.

The horse changes his attitude and shakes the soil off his back which helps him climb out of the ditch. Challenges or opportunities?

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov tells this story to encourage being happy, even if it’s only external. There’s a a man who strikes it rich only to lose it all. He has to fake being happy to save himself from being thrown overboard. In the end he has so much more!

A new immigrant opens a store and hangs 2 signs. He expect double the rewards! He learns the lesson that you need to open and stay open to succeed. Bonus joke: Orange juice powder+water=OJ, Milk powder with water=Milk baby powder+water =?

I heard this Bal Shem Tov story every year in school from my teachers as a reminder to pray from the heart. A few years ago, I saw an earlier iteration of this story in Sefer Chasidim from Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid.

A great folk tale about a king and his Rabbi who go on adventures together. The King gets annoyed when the Rabbi keeps telling him that everything is for the good. He ultimately meets a cannibal who doesn’t eat him because he is missing a finger. Listen to the very end for the Rabbis response.

The funny tale of the Hebrew speaking horse and the forgetful rider ends with an epic fail.

The Rabbi was doomed. He was going to die regardless. His quick thinking saved him.

I originally heard this story as a mother-in-law joke. It has the important message of embracing diversity. The thought is what counts, only if we are able to have room for the other: people with diverging thoughts and opinions. If we are wrapped together, we may be a broken shard but we are part of a greater whole and part of a “thoughtful” gift. If we are all individually wrapped and we don’t ha...

A friend tries to help, but this man keeps getting in his own way until despite his worst intentions he finds help. I heard this fantastical story from the great storyteller Rav Yaakov Varshavsky of Lev Lomed Ahava.

Do we hold on: drink the cup of salt water yourself or dilute it in the lake/community.

A moving tragedy: a man who travel the globe to find the secret to happiness only to learn that happiness can be found in the here and now. He want to get back home to find the happiness which must have been at home all the time. He forgets that the here and now is in the now, right now!

My favorite Teshuva story: Letting go of the negative to re-discover the positive.

Peter want to put a bully in his place, by having himself beaten to a pulp.