As children we often ask “are we there yet?” As adults we often still want instant gratification. In this talk, Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter highlights the importance of patience, especially while working towards personal, communal, and national goals. Exploring Jewish teachings about Moses and the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, Rabbi Schacter demonstrates that time and patience pay off. He urges us to be engaged and proactive in our communities, and to not feel frustrated when change does not happen overnight. Anything that matters and is lasting, Rabbi Shacter asserts, takes time and patience to build.
Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and a Senior Scholar with the Center for the Jewish Future, at Yeshiva University. He also currently serves as a member of the faculty of The Wexner Foundation and The Wexner Heritage Foundation. From 1977-2005 he served as a pulpit rabbi in congregations in New York City and Massachusetts, and was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard from 1978-1980. In 1995, Dr. Schacter was awarded the prestigious Daniel Jeremy Silver Fellowship from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University. In 2007, Dr. Schacter was the Scholar-in-Residence at the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Nashville, TN. He is editor and author of over a dozen books and of over eighty articles and reviews in Hebrew and English, as well as the Founding Editor of The Torah u-Madda Journal, a prestigious academic publication, which has gained international acclaim. Dr. Schacter holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University and received rabbinic ordination from Mesivta Torah Vodaath.
