With Wealth Comes Responsibility.

Yom Kippur, The Day Of Atonement, Is The Holy Of Holies Of Jewish Time. It Is That Rarest Of Phenomena, A Jewish Festival Without Food. Instead It Is A Day Of Fasting And Prayer, Introspection And Self-judgment When, Collectively And Repeatedly, We Confess Our Sins And Pray To Be Written Into God's Book Of Life.

The First Of The Request Prayers In The Daily Amidah Is A Fractal. It Replicates In Miniature The Structure Of The Amidah As A Whole.

The Idols Of Today Are Unmistakable - Self-esteem Without Achievement, Sex Without Consequences, Wealth Without Responsibility, Pleasure Without Struggle And Experience Without Commitment.

We Know – It Has Been Measured In Many Experiments – That Children With Strong Impulse Control Grow To Be Better Adjusted, More Dependable, Achieve Higher Grades In School And College And Have More Success In Their Careers Than Others. Success Depends On The Ability To Delay Gratification, Which Is Precisely What A Consumerist Culture Undermines. At Every Stage, The Emphasis Is On The Instant Gratification Of Instinct. In The Words Of The Pop Group Queen, “i Want It All And I Want It Now.” A Whole Culture Is Being Infantilised.

Much Can And Must Be Done By Governments, But They Cannot Of Themselves Change Lives.