By all accounts, author and Jewish mysticism scholar Rabbi Shais Taub's lecture in Tucson was penetrating and far reaching - so much so that it ended up influencing a court order.
Titled "Take Control of Your Life," Taub argued on Sunday, January 15, at the Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort, that accomplishing life's goals is interconnected with believing that "your life is like your movie produced by G-d."
"It is often difficult for us to distinguish between what we need and what we want," he said. "However, we can distinguish between what we need and what we are needed for and then go towards where our goal lays."
Taub, who blogs at the Huffington Post, said: "There are three things that you cannot change in life - the past, the truth and the other person."
Those words echoed in the mind of attorney Harriette P. Levitt when she was in court on Monday on behalf of a client who had been sentenced to 7 years in prison.
"The court had agreed to resentence him," says Levitt who has over 35 years of experience bankruptcy litigation and is a member of the Board of Directors of Congregation Young Israel of Tucson.
"As I discussed how my client had made monumental efforts to rehabilitate himself, I told the judge, "He can't change the past, he can't change the truth, but he can change himself, and he has."
The judge ordered her client released from prison, and placed him on probation.
"Turns out Rabbi Taub's speech was not only inspirational, but also practical," Levitt concluded, noting she will be looking out for more talks as part of Chabad of Tucson's 2012 Lecture Series.