A Soulful Journey

  Did it ever happen that what you heard was not what you were told?  And what you said was not what was understood? That is why it is always good to ask questions.  That way you get the message.   Questions also establish interest. It shows that we care enough to investigate. A grandmother took her grandson to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.  She showed him many parts of the magnificent structure.  Finally, they came to the altar. “Under here.” She pointed, “is where all the cardinals are buried." ”The boy looked on in amazement and asked, “You mean the whole team?” Always ask.  It is the way of truth.  It is the way of Torah. 

A wealthy man who said his son would inherit none of his wealth unless he was an absolute fool. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha was outside his home when Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi strolled by.  Yehoshua ben Korcha was crawling around in the mud with a reed sticking out of his mouth as he chased his little grandchild.   He said, "You see, when a man lives to have grandchildren he behaves like a fool."  - Midrash Tehillim 92:14 We grow and change as we age.  What was once inviolate or unthinkable becomes the norm.  Idea: It is too bad that have to learn this lesson after so many years wasted when we could have been having fun.....

It is easy to envy those who have more than we possess.  The Mishna, however warns, "the more flesh, the more worms." A parable: A family climbs aboard a train.   They have no car, no place to call home either.   Each member carries his own suitcase.   The parents have their heavy suitcases full of a lifetime’s accumulations.   The children bear only small packages. The little ones have a future.   And that future is worth all the massive suitcases in the world. Do not look behind you.  It is past.  It is gone.

A graduate, having received his degree to practice law went before his parents.   The acolyte lawyer said, “Dad, it’s time for a change.   All your life you worked hard for me; now it’s time for you to go out and work hard for yourself.” With a little luck this anecdote will produce a chuckle.   With more than a little luck, perhaps some good moral backbone, it will produce a hiss of displeasure. Dr. Judith Hauptman calls caring for aging parents, hamurah she-ba-hamurot , the most vexing of all mitzvot.  It is no simple task to take care of the people that cared for us.  But it is most necessary.

Parsonage children have their problems.   They have to live with ‘One Foot in Heaven.’ “I do not enjoy living with “One Foot in Heaven,” being God’s representative among my peers as Daddy was among us all….    That is simply how things are and to quarrel with how things are is to think you can box with God and win.”             - Julius Lester Life does not ask our permission.  It proceeds as it will.  The only thing we can control is how we respond to it.

Franz Kafka wanted much of his writing to be burned.   One story, however, he wanted saved.   It was called, “The Hunger Artist.” This short tale was an autobiographical story about a man who made his living by professional fasting.   “He is the practitioner of a once venerated profession.   Seated on straw in his small barred cage, he is marveled at by throngs of people.   After 40 days, his fasts were terminated in triumph.   His manager would make a speech, the band would play, and one of the ladies would lead him staggering in his weakened state out of the cage. "However, the day arrived when fasting was no longer understood or appreciated by the people.   He lost his manager and had to join a circus.   His cage was placed next to the animals.   He became depressed by the smell, the restlessness of the animals at night, the raw flesh carried past him and the roaring at feeding time.   The people barely glanced at him in their h...

  There is an old tale about two friends who were traveling the dangerous mountains of Persia.  One day, one of the friends lost his footing and fell into turbulent waters.  His friend leapt in after him and saved him from a certain death.  The friend who almost drowned ordered his servants to carve words into a nearby boulder: “Wanderer! In this place Nagib heroically saved the life of his friend, Mussa.” The friends continued their journey.  After many months they returned to the same place where one had saved the other.  While reminiscing they argued and it turned violent when suddenly, for a trivial matter, the one who almost drown struck the one who had saved him. The one who was hit got up, picked up a stick, and wrote in the sand, “Wanderer! In this place, Nagib broke the heart of his friend Mussa.” One of Mussa’s men asked why he recorded his heroism in stone but his cruelty in the sand.  He answered, “I shall cherish the memory of Nagib’s bra...

In 1949 John Currier was sentenced to a life in prison.   He was illiterate.   After serving many years he was paroled to work for a wealthy farmer.   Finally in 1968 Currier had completed his sentence and was released.   Records show that a letter was written both to Currier and the farmer telling them that the sentence was over.   Currier never saw the letter. Ten years passed and the farmer died.   Currier kept working living in an old trailer and earning a meager $5 per week. He bathed in a horse trough and used a hose   for a shower. It was not until the 1980’s that an officer heard about Currier and told him about the letter and that he had been freed over a decade ago. Are you free?

“I’m in the ‘ort’ business. As in ‘Your movies ‘ort’ to make money.” - Earl Owensby (B grade movie producer) It is good to know where we are aiming. Scattershot works sometimes but it does not promise desired results. Far better is to take aim and then try our best. That ‘ort’ to be good enough.

“I have examined, weighed, judged you and your behavior and found you sorely lacking in qualities that are worthy of my respect.   I have these qualities at this point in time, but you do not.   I humbly recognize my superior moral behavior and you inconsistency of immorality.   I forgive you your trespasses.   We will henceforth have a relationship based on the recognition of my benevolence in the hour of your neediness, my generosity in the face of your guilt.   You will find some suitable way to be dutifully grateful from this day forward.” -David Augsburger Is this accurate?     Is this us?     Can it be us?  

Vitali Vitaliev was an investigative reporter and satirist in Australia.  He left the Soviet Union in 1990 after a failed coup in Moscow.  He wrote of an evening in 1989 when he bumped into a couple of men sharing drinks and laughter at a hotel lounge.  They grew up in the same village outside Moscow where the grandfather of one of them – Leonid Brezhnev – and father of the other – Andrei Sakharov – had dachas.  When Sakharov was exiled by Brezhnev, his son was thrown out of the university and ostracized.  The only person who offered help was Brezhnev’s grandson. In 1989 their positions had reversed: Brezhnev’s grandson was out of a job because of his grandfather and Sakharov’s son was helping him out. You cannot predict the power of forgiveness

A Jewish shopkeeper lay on his deathbed. The family gathered close to the bedside. His wife sobbed. “Jacob, Jacob! Have mercy,” they cried. “Do not leave us. Have pity open your eyes. See! We are all here around you. Look – here’s Morris, Harry, Sarah, Rivkah! Jacob arose with a start. “If you are all here,” he shouted, “who’s minding the store??” Funny. Knowing why this is a funny anecdote is important. It stresses that when we are near death the mundane does not matter. No one would care who is at the store when the Angel of Death stand with his sword unsheathed. A perspective from our tradition: Treat each moment as your last and each moment will yield its greatest fruits.