AskBigQuestions convergence: What do you say no to? And what are you thankful for?

My biggest project of this academic year has been launching and developing an initiative AskBigQuestions (and its website, www.askbigquestions.com). ABQ attempts to fill a void on Northwestern's campus, one which exists on many other university campuses too: We don't talk about life's Big Questions, the questions of ultimate concern with which all human beings are ultimately concerned. Who am I? Where do I come from? What's my story? What will be my vocation? Who will be my partners? What will be my legacy? These are the questions that make life worth living.

Among the many faith and philosophical traditions that address these questions, Judaism and Jewish life is a world class culture of unparalleled thickness. And by presenting a Judaism that answers the most important questions of human life, students who are rooted in the narrative of universal humanism can find a Jewish voice that feels real and that resonates.

In addition to the website, ABQ regularly sponsors salons with popular NU professors in a coffee shop. The format is usually that they will offer some perspectives on the question, I will respond with some Jewish resonances, and then the students, the prof and I engage in a lively give-and-take.

This column by Roger Cohen in today's New York Times brings together two of the Big Questions we've addressed this fall: "What do you say no to?" and "What are you thankful for?" Check out the story at the end:

"When Stanley Cohen, the friend and attorney to the artist Alexander Calder, moved to Paris in the 1960s, he ordered The Sunday New York Times. It would arrive the following Wednesday. He would take the paper and store it unread until Saturday night. Then he would place it outside his door so that, on Sunday morning, he had the illusion of finding his beloved paper waiting.

"I like that story. It’s a reminder of how not to be a slave to time, of the need to be imaginative and humble in our thankfulness, and of the fact that news can wait a week. A day off to read it is dandy. Turn off, tune out, drop in. And a decent-sized turkey takes five hours to cook."

Cohen reminds us that Thanksgiving attempts to be a version of Shabbat: A day to say no to the small stuff so that we can say yes, say thanks, and give blessing, to the big stuff. Saying thank you requires turning off a lot of the stuff that chains us to work, chains us to thin relationships, in order that we can say yes to our families, to other human beings.