I was at a client last week providing some computer graphics training. One of the art directors needed some assistance, as she was having some trouble with the project she was working on. It just happens to be that this art director is Jewish (I believe she's a BT). In any regard, she shows me the problem that she's having on the computer screen and after thinking about it for a moment, I asked her to try a certain function. She did, and the problem went away.
The look on this woman's face was pure joy. She couldn't believe that I had "figured it out". Just for the record, the problem she was having wasn't one that I had seen before, but intuition just seemed to lead me to the solution.
The art director, however, was just in total shock, as she couldn't figure out how in the world I had made the connection between her problem and the ultimate solution (admittedly, the two things seemingly had nothing in common at all). She demanded that I tell her how I figured it out. Unfortunately, I didn't have an answer for her. I just said it kinda clicked in my head and went with a hunch. She didn't believe that. In any regard, I left her desk to continue my rounds at the company.
The next day, I passed by her desk and she jumped up and said the following:
"I still can't get over how in the world you figured that problem out yesterday. I discussed it with my husband last night and we both decided that it MUST be the Torah. It must be! You learn Torah and only someone who has that kind of mind could possibly come up with that specific solution to the problem."
Since then, it has become a phrase used often at the company. Even the non-Jewish employees now want me to "use the Torah" when I help them with their computer problems.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
That's a great story! And she's probably right. If you are a learner (and I'm assuming you are) you carve pathways in your brain. We have already seen studies that show that Suduko helps the elderly stay more alert and mentally acute. We know about MENSA and mind games and Games magazine. Gemara is all that and so much more! Yes! It could be Torah and yashar koach to you. :)
ReplyDeletethat's a great story, but now you have a big responsibility... I wonder what they will say when you get something wrong...
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess telling you to "use the Torah" is more appropriate than telling you to "use the force". But, really, what's the difference...
ReplyDelete-OC
That is a GREAT story. :-)
ReplyDeleteIs "using the Torah" like "using the force?"
ReplyDeleteRAFI:
ReplyDelete"now you have a big responsibility"
i have a friend who does not wear a kippah at work because he says his coworkers all assumes that religious jews are geniuses.
Thanks for the comments. Rafi, in reality, we have a big responsibility every day. Especially for those of us in the workplace who interact with all kinds of people every day.
ReplyDeleteThat's really funny! I hope the Torah doesn't let them down...
ReplyDelete(Responding to Olah Chadasha:)
ReplyDeleteThe most applicable to difference is that he is using his mind, which was sharpened by the Torah.
(Besides which, you don't really believe in the "force", do you?)
And to Must-Gum-addict:
I really loved this story.
I hope they won't catch you on any mistakes, or else you might have to admit that you're not the world's greatest Torah-scholar (but you're certainly close ! )
Great story :)
ReplyDeleteWhen she said the Torah, she probably meant the pilpul of learning Gemara. Either way, learning Torah teaches one to delve into hidden meanings and nuances.
ReplyDeleteBTW-I'm probably way late in this 'cause I just returned from Israel, but I "tagged" you with the Meme of Eight, and would love for you to read my blog (and add it to your blogroll!)
Even though I blog from the USA, I feel as if I am an Israeli blogger; because my heart is there, and I am always "with one foot over the side," in ארץ ישראל...
>You learn Torah and only someone who has that kind of mind could possibly come up with that specific solution to the problem."
ReplyDeleteYou should sell this story to your local kiruv organization. Lets see how many would be ensnared by this tale.
You don't believe in the force?!? You did watch Star Wars, didn't you? It's totally real!
ReplyDelete-OC
I agree that learning Gemara sharpens your mind in very specific and powerful ways. But "use the Torah" also reminds me of the religious questions who always ask "What would (that guy who got crucified) do?" ;)
ReplyDeletehahahaaha
ReplyDeleteo i love this
ReplyDeleteits incredibly beautiful
So why are you so dense otherwise? Do you blame the torah on that?
ReplyDeleteTHAT I blame on the Force....
ReplyDeleteWhen my husband and I are stumped we say, "Well, I think you need to get religious about it." And of course it works. : )
ReplyDeleteThe geek in me wants to know what the problem was and how you fixed it!
ReplyDeleteok, the problem was this:
ReplyDeleteShe's using InDesign and she has this totally cool font that contains all of these ligatures. One of the ligatures was for two successive lowercase "t"s -- as in the lattice. But for some reason, when she typed the two letter t's, she always got to separate characters, not the ligature with the two combined t's. Try as she might, she could not get it to work. Oddly enough, the ligature did work correctly in Illustrator.
I had noticed that her tracking settings were set to +30 in InDesign, and asked her to reset that value to 0. The reason why is because InDesign is smart enough to know that letters spread that far apart (with +30 tracking) can't appear as a ligature. By resetting the value to 0, InDesign correctly formatted the two t's as a single double t ligature.
Geeky enough for ya?