Use(fulness) of Parallel Texts for Language Learning

Several years ago I realized the usefulness of parallet texts for language learning and have started using them to improve my Russian, though not so systematically. This method of language learning seems more common in Russia than the other countries I've visited, at least considering the quantity of such texts in major bookstores in Moscow.

In my continued daily and weekly study of Chabad Chassidus I use such parallel texts in the Hebrew (and Yiddish) original and its Russian translation. What I like best (and continue to read every weekday and every Sabbath respectively) are two of the Chabad classics - Tanya (printed version / free online version) and Hayom yom (printed version / free online version).

From the next week I'm finally starting my long-year project to read some of my most favorite books in English in parallel with their respective translations in Russian (online list).

One of the greatest benefits of parallel texts is that you get the exact equivalents in the source and target languages in every specific context, assuming that the translations are precise.

Hopefully, this method of continuing to learn Russian, together with work with a private teacher, among others, will help me improve my Russian. I haven't been more highly motivated than now to raise my level of proficiency in both written and spoken Russian.

Death of Something That Used to Be Very Precious to Me

These days I've starting saying "kaddish" symbolically to something that used to be very precious to me. It started to die inside me a few months ago, but in retrospect it must have been dying for a long time in the eyes of those who see the reality more objectively. I was simply unaware how serious its sickness had been until rather recently. But now I can't fail to notice it, nor can I deny it.

I still have a hard time accepting this death as it forces me to totally replan the rest of my life accordingly. One thing seems certain, at least as of now. I can't and don't want to continue as if it were still alive for me though it may still look alive to those who have a blind faith in it.

Necessity to Press Olives to Extract Oil from Them

I still remember being quite tired of hearing "success" almost everyone wished me on autopilot when I told my friends and acquaintances in Jerusalem that I would leave Jerusalem for some personal mission in the Diaspora. I didn't ask each one of them what they exactly meant by "success", but I have good reason to assume that "success" for many, if not all, of them, means realization of what the ego wants.

The ultimate purpose of our life, or the reason why the soul "descends" to this physical world by borrowing a physical body and being coupled with the ego, is not to continue to "success", that is, to keep realizing what the ego wants but to accomplish spiritual growth.

Muscles of not only the body but also the soul can't grow if they remain in the comfort zone. Experiencing life challenges is one of the best ways to get out of the comfort zone. Chassidus teaches that each one of us is born with the necessary resources for getting over every life challenge we encounter.

When we only remain in the comfort zone, we often end up not noticing and making use of these resources that are buried inside us and are waiting to be used by us just as it's necessary to press olives to extract oil from them.

My "olives" are being pressed again since I left Jerusalem for my new personal mission. I wonder what kind of new "oil" will be extracted from this experience of encountering new life challenges and hopefully conquering them one after another.

Red Line Not to Be Crossed

There is a red line to everything not to be crossed. If someone crosses it, I have to walk away from him. This applies not only to individuals but also to social collectives.

Recently I've learned that what constitutes the ultimate red line for me. It the worst imaginable manifestation orinating from the worst illusion of the collective ego. If someone manifests this by himself, I definitely have to walk away from him. This manifestation contradicts my most fundamental belief so much that when I witnessed someone supporting it, thus being complicit in it, I had to make a very difficult decision to walk away from him.

Ideally, I would also walk away from the social collective itself that is deeply stuck in its illusory collective ego and is constantly nurtured by it. The individual I had to walk away from belongs to this collective. The saddest part is that he is not exceptional in supporting not only this manifestation per se but even its escalation and this collective ego is not the only one that manifests itself in the same, most horrendous, manner.

I still have to think thoroughly if I can walk away at all from this social collective, and if yes, how. This realization is the result of the third series of my awakening and is causing a tectonic shift to my life. I'm even starting to say kaddish symbolically to myself as something that used to be very precious to me has died.