We often think that others are responsible for making us feel guilty. This is not true. Others may try to manipulate us by saying certain things to make us feel guilty and at times they are very effective in causing us self doubt. However, the reason that manipulators are able to make us feel guilty is that a part of us agree with their message and the doubt already exists in our head. For example, if you are trying to set boundaries with a particular person and you have said “no”, yet they continue to ask for that something, ...

Retirement means different things to different people. You might think of it as a standing tee time at Echo Lake Country Club, while your neighbor would like to hop on a six-month cruise around the world. Many millennials and younger professionals aren’t thinking about retirement in that traditional sense at all, as they face the burdens of student loan debt and an uncertain future without corporate pensions or government entitlements. I prefer to think of it all as reaching financial independence. This means that working ...

On June 25, I boarded a bus along with Will Scharnagl ‘18 and John Hall ‘19, to embark on a 10-hour-long bus ride down to Black Mountain, North Carolina for the 2019 YMCA Conference on National Affairs (CONA). In order to attend CONA, students must be nominated by their state’s Youth and Government programs. I was among the 25 total students who were nominated to represent the New Jersey delegation, and Will and Jack represented the Model United Nations delegation. Representatives from 20 states attended the week-long ...

Once upon a time, a pious Jew was traveling through the countryside in Eastern Europe. He came to a shtetl where the local schochet (ritual slaughterer) had just taken ill. The town butcher had no one to do the slaughtering and was desperate when he bumped into the visitor. The traveler looked pious and G‑d fearing (perhaps he wore a black hat and a beard) so the butcher asked him if he was, by any chance, a qualified schochet. The visitor replied that he was indeed. Overjoyed, the butcher started arranging for ...