Get to Know Jewish Heritage Month with Shaun Tomson

On today's episode of the "Helping Families Be Happy" podcast, host Adina Oberman, talks to Shaun Thompson. He is a former world surfing champion and has been described as one of the greatest and most influential surfers of all time. Shaun is also a world-renowned leadership, mentor, entrepreneur, environmentalist and best-selling author. He's the co-author of the current best seller - The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride Life's Waves. Today they are going to talk about their Jewish identities and give listeners a greater appreciation and understanding for Jewish history and life.

Episode Highlights:

• 02:11: Shaun explains why May is Jewish Heritage Month and what his role is and how does he identify faith.
• 02:28 Shaun shares how Judaism plays a big part in his life.
• 04:47: Shaun explains what Shema Yisrael is. It is about oneness and about identifying and shouting out your faith.  
• 05:31: While talking about the oneness of a relationship Shaun says even though we might worship differently, we will have the humanity to believe and to understand that there is an entity that is all powerful. 
• 09:05: There are many ways to find hope again, but your faith in your religion is a helpful path. 
• 09:45: Every single somewhere in the world, you have the arch, which is the repository for the sacred scroll for the Torah.
• 11:03: Shaun shares about his life's ordeal and how he has given up surfing.
• 13:54: Adina talks about the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, which means to repair the world.
• 15:33: Break out a sheet of paper and put a timer on for 15 minutes and mark 12 lines every line, beginning with our will. This is a way to find your purpose.
• 16:53: When you put our will in front of something, it's not like "I will" is about the future. It's about creating change.
• 17:50: People have this realization that we are not on this single-minded pursuit for success and wealth, we want to help other people too.
• 20:32: Finding a way back to faith in God and faith in themselves is something that you are doing through the work that you do.
• 21:13: As per Adina, in your work and in your life. Mensch is definitely a great compliment.
• 22:56: Shaun shares how they reconnect as a family and this notion of connecting means it's unbelievably important.
• 23:55: Every line begins with our well-open-source code. Anyone can use it. It's 15 minutes, then you stand up, and you read your code to the assembled group, whether it's your family, friends, or colleagues.

3 Key Highlights

1. Known also as the Five Books of Moses, the Torah is one of the three main divisions of the Hebrew Bible and also the most sacred, for according to tradition, it was written down by Moses at divine dictation.
2. Shaun shares how he had given up surfing and what motivated him to restart it again.
3. As per Shaun, there is a lot of common sense in many religions, and we are much more connected than we think.

Tweetable Quotes

• "No matter what religion you are, prayers are dialogue that you have with your God, and it's really, you know, when things go sideways, things get bad, know that that pray can help you." - Shaun Thompson
• "Your identity and your faith really impact your outlook on life and how you live your life in the world." - Shaun Thompson
• "People are really beautiful words of commitment. They find the best vision of themselves, and they express that and commit to that." - Shaun Thompson
• "We are looking forward. So that's 1/2 of the meaning and purpose of life is we are even better at the other half that." - Shaun Thompson
• "Mensch is someone who's good. When someone calls you a Mensch, that's about the greatest compliment that you can receive." - Adina

Resources Mentioned

• Helping Families Be Happy Podcast Apple
• Podcast Editing
• Familius.com