Rabbi Sholklapper may speak and read enough languages to make anyone jealous. This multi-lingual blessing allows him the unique gift of investigating ancient religious texts to deconstruct them and explore meaning lost over the passing of time and that has often been injected with interpretations based in ulterior motives. This fact makes him an exceptionally fun person with whom to share a coffee and conversation. One of the most influential and life-changing moments in Ariel’s life involved his experience of arriving on the scene as a first responder following a bomb exploding on a bus in Israel. This trauma sent him into enough of a blunted state of numbness that he began exploring meditation and mindfulness. He is now a teacher of both. Through this conversation, Ariel answers the question, “What is Judaism?” His answer: that each of us has a divine spark and our lives are about getting closer to that spark. The consequences of this understanding from his perspective is one of the goals of the work: becoming kinder to others, more compassionate, and also more settled, and in life. A necessary and honorable goal indeed.