Problem Analysis

•  “Ayekah?” – “where are you’ – first asked of Adam and Eve in the garden, the question is useful to probe what is the experience of the problem, how is it affecting you? i.e. what is your stake in the game?
•  “Kadosh” – while nominally translated as holy, the ultimate meaning signifies uniqueness. the question then is what if anything is unique about this problem or situation.
• “The Jewish Star” or Magen David is a useful symbol exemplifying tension:  Problems or situations and their solutions are often able to be expressed as the tension between various forces or emotions. The so called jewish star can be seen as two triangles in tension,one pointing toward heaven the other toward earth.  A variation is the tension between the two inclinations, yetzer tov and yetzer ha-ra – good vs evil inclinations. Fritz Perls taught a variation, upper dog vs under dog. Social scientists teach the force field analysis technique of listing pluses in one column and negatives in a second column then doing a comparison, perhaps a variation of “on one hand, and on the other hand.”
•   “Im Eyn Ani li me li?, ve im ayn ani le mah ani? – Hillel’s golden rule answer to the impertinent questioner can be used as an analysis of one’s stake in a problem such as when one is damned in one does and damned if one doesn’t
• “The Hand of Esau and the Voice of Jacob”   When jacob took on the disguise of Esau to steal Isaac’s blessing, he provided a set of mixed messages to his father Isaac. Problem solving often involves an analysis of such mixed messages.
• “Do not judge until you have come to his place”  this advice to a judge suggests also role playing of another’s position in an attempt to better understand a situation.
• “Hocheyach Tocheyach et amitecha ve lo tisha chet alav” – this verse from leviticus points to providing constructive feedback that enables the recipient to accept it, otherwise the ineffective feedback adds to the problem..
• Davar Acher – Midrashic technique for introducing one or more alternative interpretations or arguments.
• “keviyachol” – loosely translated as “think the impossible” the expression stems from speaking about God in ways that are not allowed or are contradictory to tradition – i.e. speaking  of God in human terms such as alluding to God’s having human feelings..
• “Saying Kaddish” while traditionally kaddish is recited for spouses, children or blood relatives, we borrow the notion of closure for loss of treasured relationships or expectations/assumptions.
• “Hashkem Baboker” while literally means ‘get up in the morning’ the expression takes on an urgency of getting up early in the morning, i.e. get up earlier in the morning that your adversary or adversity – anticipate the worst and prepare for it.
• “Im lo lishma, bo lishma” the expression relates the idea that some activity that starts from a ulterior motive could take on a more altruistic meaning. “Try it, you will like it” is a more folksy version.
• “Tzeh Ulemad”  – a common rabbinic expression conveying the notion of reality testing, go and see what the real people are really doing.

Methods

1. Choices of a team member or friend:

                                                   a. Jonah who was an articulate, convincing and effective public speaker-spokesman for a cause but did not like people or appreciate their need to change and grow through behavioral change.

                                                   b. Moses who was a great entrepreneur, seeing a need, establishing the requirements for and starting the movement of people through their start-up experience, but could not lead once the enterprise was established.

                                                   c. Abraham who was a great visionary, but was willing to sacrifice his family, and was willing to use his wife’s charms to build business relationships with influential authorities.

                                                   d. King David who was a competitive genius, a leader on the battle field, but who lusted after the wives of his associates, often assigning responsibilities to these associates that would allow him to be alone with these wives.

2. Experiencing alternate points of view through visualization exercises involving english reading from left to right, and hebrew as right to left tracking.

3. Experiencing alternate points of view by considering the page layouts of the talmud and such biblical commentaries as the mikraot gedolot that have the text in the center and various commentaries around the printed page.

4. Application of standard rabbinic guidelines for textual interpretation.

5. “Davar Acher” – another interpretation as a pattern for brain storming.

6. “haskem Baboker” as competative self-defense.

7.  “lech lecha” as call to leave current mindset or situation

8. There is no absolute chronology in the scriptures..

9. Ke-ve-yachol: while we can not speak of God, if we were able to this is what we might say.