A Soulful Journey

"..."The Lord is merciful.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."  The problem is I can't get up."  - Woody Allen, Without Feathers There are times when everything goes right and we are not satisfied.  In the course of a day if we are not diagnosed with cancer or get into a terrible collision, or develop a debilitating head-ace; if our children are not run over and no one close to us suffers; if the house does not burn down and if we have a mouth that can speak; if the legs still work and someone cares about us, life cannot be that dreadful.  Can it?

People like to touch famous people.   Even the great Smithsonian Museum boasts clothes worn by modern-day rock stars.   An actor walks down the street and is immediately surrounded by adoring fans. Why the predilection for being near the famous?   “I always sit next to a man in a turban.   You get photographed more.”     ~   Gore Vidal Perhaps we do not feel worthy enough by ourselves.   Maybe the antidote is to like who we are more.

“Lord, who shall enjoy Your heavenly feats? Who shall bask in Your heavenly light? He who speaks honest sentiments. And tells the tell truth from his heart aright.” ~ Psalm 15, interpreted by Michael Jay Katz

Did it ever happen to you that things were going well until you decided to let everyone know how smart you were and thereby ruined everything? Pride can be treacherous. Bragging can be very destructive. A Mongolian folktale about a frog goes like this: Two geese were getting ready for their flight south for the winter when they were interrupted by a frog. The frog asked the geese to take him a long. One of the geese agreed but only if the frog could figure a way for them to carry him. The frog thought and then produced a long reed of grass that the geese would hold in their beaks while the frog held tight to the middle of the reed with his mouth. They flew their way southward when the threesome was noticed by a group of men on the ground. The men stared and remarked how wonderful a device of conveyance this was and who was clever enough to devise it. That is when the proud frog opened his mouth to declared that he invented it. But when the frog spoke he lost his grip on the ...

What do we learn from each moment? What can we learn from a flower? A leaf? A story? A joke? “The Inspector was asking the class where they hopes to go when they died. All the replies were satisfactory with the exception of that little Aby, who said he hoped to go to hell! “To Hell,” exclaimed the Inspector. “Yes. That’s where father says all the business has gone to.”          - from The Friday Night Book   The meaning? We give energy to whatever we choose to speak of, or work toward. If love is what we focus on, we will create that all around us. If we strive for kindness we will make it reality. If we elect business, we will succeed in it, no matter the cost. Choose wisely.

“Food is always good, always good for people, always a token of good feeling,” the anthropologists Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog write in Life Is with People , a description of the Eastern European shtetl.   “To give food symbolizes not only maternal love but also the friendliness of the household to its visitors.   Not to offer a guest ‘honor’ in the form of food…would be the equivalent of a rebuff.”   - Quoted by Charles Silberman All that we have is a gift.   Who is truly deserving of the vast richness that they possess?   That is why it is a gift.   And aren’t gifts meant to be shared?

Rabbi Hanoch once said, “The real exile of Israel in Egypt was when they learned to endure it.” – Hasidic Never give up. Never give in. When we stop trying to grow we have truly given  up.  Do not settle for what is...but stretch out your heart, soul, and self towards the Maker of all.

The devil is not a force outside of us that beckons us with nocturnal whispers to do evil.   That is displacement.     The devil is within.   We call it the yetser ha-ra .   Yes, it is an urge to follow an uncaring path but it is not “other,” it is us.       “…the belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”  – Joseph Conrad The good aspect of this belief system is that we can always choose to rule over it and not vice versa.

Our charge in life is not see how angry we can become to prove our strength.  In fact, it is the opposite: Abraham Lincoln was very lenient toward the leaders of the Confederacy, even though they were his enemy during the Civil War.   On of his cabinet ministers chided him, “Why do you treat your enemies with kindness?   You should try to destroy them.” Lincoln answered, “I treat them with kindness because I want to destroy them.   How will I destroy them?   By making them my friends.”

An 8 year old was attending services at the time he was receiving his first siddur, prayer book. The rabbi spoke to the young man who happened to have one of the names of Jacob’s children. The rabbi expressed the hope that the boy would have a “Life of dedication to your brothers, the people of Israel.” The youngster replied at the top of his voice, “I ain’t got no brothers.” Yes, he does. And the sooner we all come to accept this fact the safer we will all be.

A little boy was having a difficult time blowing the shofar.   He kept at it, emitting high-pitched squealing noises.   It was not right.     Finally, he exclaimed, “It ain’t that I ain’t blowin’ it.   It just is that the sound ain’t comin’ out.”     - Gerson D.Cohen from address to Rabbinic Assembly Convention 1988 What would you say to the little boy?   Probably keep trying.   Do not give up.