A Soulful Journey

There are said to be thirteen benefits derived from eating bread in the morning. -Bread protects from heat   and cold. -It wards off malign spirits and forces of destruction. -It invites the simple to become wise. -Bread assists the plaintiff with his lawsuits. -Bread allows the students to learn Torah and then teach it. -It makes anyone’s words worth hearing. -Learning is recalled through the medium of bread. -After eating bread one’s vitals are refreshed. -Love is retained and evil thoughts are banished with bread. -Bread eradicates disease   and drives away envy. -It enables love to enter the soul. Talmud quoted by Michael J Katz in Night Tales of the Shammes This is all possible when not taking it for granted, for ourselves or others.

“I recently came across a whimsical anecdote based on the fantasy of a contemporary rabbi.   He dreamed that Hell had burned down and was utterly consumed. "The Celestial Council met in urgent session to decide on a course of action.   There was, of course, the logistical suggestion that another Hell be built.   But one of the angels disagreed.   “As long as there was an Eternal Inferno, it had to be, but it is not right to build a new one.” “But,” said Satan, “we must have a Hell for those who deserve it.   We would undermine the principles of justice otherwise.” "Both protagonists found some support within the Council.   Neither side would yield and an impasse was reached.   Finally, one of the wisest of the group proposed a compromise.   He pointed out another related problem.   Paradise was decrepit and badly in need of repair.   A committee had already =begun plans for a modernized facility.   Therefore, let the old ...

Many stories and jokes came out the Soviet era communist state.  Each tells of the life and frustration of the people.  Invariably, they tell the story of a people’s angst and inability to be free.   Here is one: A drunk ran into Red Square and screamed, “Brezhnev is a durak [fool]!” The KGB hauled him away.  He was brought to court and given a s sentence of twenty years and twenty days: twenty days for drunkenness and disturbing the peace and twenty years for revealing a state secret.” -Newsweek November 1982 One of the critical aspects of life is freedom to act, speak and live.

The Kelmer Maggid interpreted a quotation from Psalms for his followers: “Oh Lord! Break the teeth of the those who practice evil!” “Why the teeth?” asked the Maggid. "When a sinner dies and enters into the next universe, he arrives clean shaven.   Immediately he is asked, “Sinner, where is your beard?” “I was born without a beard,” he replies. “You were also born without teeth, still you have them with you here.” “So,” said the Maggid, “They knock his teeth out.” We never just love for this day.  We live for tomorrow.  We live for next week. We live for the next life.  It is not just this moment that we consider.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s own way.”   -Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning So long as we breathe we have a choice.  No one can force us to act of feel anything unless we agree. 

“An old man sat at a crossroads.   A passerby approached and asked him how to get to the city.   The old man replied, “Both ways lead to the same destination.   That way,” he pointed, “begins in briars but ends in a smooth path.   The other way begins in smooth path but ends in briars.   Now choose.” “So it is with us: there are some who only know peace but will come to pain in the end.   Others suffer now but their end is comfort.”        - Sifre D'varim, Re'eh 53 LIfe is not immediate.  It is about the long run.  We must always opt for the right choice for God's sake, and ours.

A developer wanted to buy a farmer’s field to put up condominiums.   “What will you pay?” asked the farmer. The developer said, “We want to do the right thing.   We will pay you what the field is worth.” The farmer replied, “I’ll be darned if I’ll sell it for that!” Would this conversation ever take place if people acted with integrity?   Spoke the truth?   If not, perhaps we have a head-start on living the best life possible.

Advice to parents and a reminder to children: Once I asked my mother why there is a Mother’s Day, a Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, but no Children’s Day. She replied that every day is Children’s Day. 

“Writing is one of the easiest things but erasing is one of the most difficult.” – Rabbi Israel Salanter It is hard, maybe difficult, or perhaps impossible to totally erase what has been written or spoken.   Even you burn all copies someone will remember what was written.   Even if you apologize, people do not forget. Moral?

“Someone interviewed me recently and wanted to know if I saved ideas so that I could be assured of at least one column a week. “I don’t save anything so that pockets are empty at the end of the week.   So is my refrigerator, so is my gas tank, so is my file of ideas.   I tried out the best lines on God and come the next week I bargain, whimper, make promises, cower and throw myself on the mercy of the Almighty for just three more columns in exchange for cleaning my oven. “I don’t get to this point overnight.   I come from a family of savers who were sired by poverty, raised in the Depression, worshiped on the altar of self-denial. “Throughout the years I have seen a fair number of my family who have died leaving candles that have never been lit, appliances that never got out of the box, wines that were saved for something special, and new sofas shrouded in chenille bedspreads.   It gets to be a habit; after a while you have dreams that you hide away for the days w...

Emmanuel Ringleblum was a chronicler of the doomed Warsaw Ghetto.   In one entry he told of a child who tried to collect an extra lunch at a public “soup” kitchen.   “When discovered, the child begged with tears in his eyes to be allowed to have two lunches, because he did not want to die like his little sister.” Can anyone say the words “not on my watch” without cringing?

Starting out in life with someone who believes in you is a good start. A Jewish mother took her two little children out for a walk. “How nice your kids!” said a neighbor.  “How old are they?” “The doctor will be four and the lawyer is two,” said the mother.   

A poor man had five children when his wife bore twins.   The priest met him on the street and said, “I see that the Lord has smiled on you again.” “Smiled?!   He laughed right out loud.” There is always more than one way to view a situation.

The Hoover Institution announced that the communist parties of the world lost eight million members….mostly without loss of life.   It was the largest drop in the world’s communist population since Joseph Stalin’s purges. - R. Emmett Tyre ll Jr., The American Spectator What once was thought to be a permanent foe has now deflated to the point where they are hardly recognizable.   What does this say about what we invest our energies into?

Le plus change Le plus c’est la meme change. – French saying

Sometimes we must admit we cannot change another, even someone we love.   What do we do then?   Only one thing: change yourself. “There was a lady who said my husband is the most brilliant man in the world.   Albert Einstein, I am told, had only four people in the world that could understand him.   My husband,” she said, “Nobody can understand.” – Harold Kushner

"Man has a limited biological capacity for change.  When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock."  -Alvin Toffler There are two different modalities of change.  The first is internal and the second is external.  Toffler writes about the second.   The remaining question is highly personal: What is my capacity to change?  Can I?  Do I?  Have I grown brittle with years?  Or am I open?

"We give thanks to You, Lord, our God, because we are able to give thanks. "       – Sotah 40 a

Mendel Berger was a dealer in remnant materials.   Two weeks prior to Passover, his poor uncle approached him and said, “Dear nephew, every year at this time you give me material for a garment without charge.   This year, however, my conditions are better and I want to purchase the cloth.” Berger allowed his relative to select whatever he wanted and charged him a minimal price.   The uncle left very pleased and promised to pay in a few days. “Why do you sigh, Mendel?” his wife asked.   “You should be content that he is going to pay this time.” “On the contrary,” Mendel replied.   “When my uncle was poor, I used to give him material without money.    It was usually something that was difficult for me to sell.   In this way, I performed a good deed and it did not cost me much.   Now when he came to purchase some material for money, I had to let him choose the finest piece of cloth at less than my cost.   I doubt he will remember to pay ...

Maybe this advice is the best dispensed human prescription on how to treat one another. Henry Pachter once went to visit the famous physicist, Albert Einstein.   Mrs. Einstein opened the door and called out behind her, “Albert, an autograph!” The professor was at the time reviled by reactionaries who complained that Einstein was “relativizing everything.”   Einstein materialized briefly to hand the student a piece of paper with his signature and the following advice: “Goodness and strong character are better than intelligence and learning.” - Henry Pachter, Weimar Studies

Rabbi Arnold Fischel went from New York to Washington in December 1861 to petition the president on having Jewish chaplains for the armed forces of the United States.   Congress has just passed a law limiting chaplains to ministers of Christian denominations. After the meeting, Mr. Lincoln sent on to Congress a new proposal for an amended law. It passed on July 17, 1862.   Two months later the first Jewish chaplain went into the service. What is the moral?   Change only happens when you raise your voice.   Keep silent and you assent to the status quo.

“Unless we are willing to change, the possibility of sustaining a long-lasting relationship is slim.   When two comparative strangers make a commitment to unite, each brings a unique history, beliefs and habits.   Some will be highly incompatible.   If the relationship is to survive, it will mean what we will have to compromise, adjust and be flexible. One way to accomplish this is to listen to ourselves more often; listen to all our dead-end statements: “Well, that’s just the way I am,”   “I’m too old to change,”   “There is nothing I can do about it,”   “I can’t,”   “I won’t,”   “It’s not my problem.”   Linguists tell us that the danger of using such language is that we become what we say we are and do only what we believe we can.” – Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love