A Soulful Journey

“Losing your hope is like losing your freedom; like losing yourself." -Rebbe Nachman, The Empty Chair

“Wherever our thoughts are, that’s where we are. " -Rebbe Nachman, Likutei Moharan 

Every Jew is responsible to say one hundred blessings every day.   How do we know this?   As the Torah says, “And now Israel what (mah) does God demand of you?”   The Hebrew word mah is the equivalent of one hundred.   -Menahot 43b

When he was asked if he had seen Doctor Zhivago, Yogi Berra answered, “No, I feel fine. ” Every time you smile, you light up.

When he was told by a mayor’s wife, “You look cool,” Yogi Berra responded, “You don’t look so hot yourself.” Go ahead.  Laugh out loud.

“Wherever our thoughts are, that’s where we are. " - Rebbe Nachman

"The devil quotes Scripture." - George Bernard Shaw You can say virtually anything and back it up with a verse from the Bible.  Taken liberally from any one of the many biblical books it is possible to find words that "proofs" for even absurd statements.   In your soul you always know the truth.  You cannot be deceived without your consent.

“Halacha is to stir the body. Aggadda is to draw the heart.” – Rabbi Louis Jacobs Halacha is the Law.  It is what God demands of us and that we strive to observe.  Aggadda are the tales that infuse the Torah into life.  The stories, parables, and tales are all part of the fabric that breathes life into Torah.  We need both Law and Myth to be whole.  

“Whenever possible, avoid eating in a hurry. Even at home, don’t gobble up your food. Eating is an act of holiness. It requires full presence of mind."   
- Rebbe Nachman, The Empty Chair 

Help me please, dear God, 
teach me what to say, 
help me to understand what I should ask for, 
when I speak to You. 
Please, show me the right way to approach You, 
Just how I should speak to You in my own words, 
like I would pour my heart out to my own best friend, 
like a little child before You. – Rebbe Nachman

A 19 th century Jew from Warsaw told his friend that he was moving to America.  The friend exclaimed, “But that’s so far away!” To which the rootless Jew replies, “From what?”  -Alan Dershowitz Home is where you rest.  It is the place of calm you find in the maelstrom we call life.  But home is not always a place.  At times, it is a state of being.

“How very good it is when you can awaken your heart and plead to God until tears stream from your eyes, and you stand like a little child crying to its parent. 
 -Rebbe Nachman , The Empty Chair

In one old story, a rabbi sings loudly and forcefully exhorting the congregation to follow his example.  He says, “The moment you begin to sing your soul becomes one with everyone before you.”   In prayer, time disappears as we merge into the great chain that binds us with eternity.

“Listen, friend, this body is his dulcimer, He draws the string tight, and out of it comes The music of the inner universe. If the strings break and the bridge falls, Then this dulcimer of dust goes back to dust.” -translation by Robert Bly You are the dulcimer.

On Rosh Hashanna we do not wish one another a “Happy New Year.”  We say Shana Tova, which means “A good year.”  What is the difference?  It is already here, so it is “new.”  What we have come to find is not just an acknowledgement that another year has passed, but we seek a cleansing of the self, a purging of the negative parts of our person.  We seek a “good” year not a “new” one.

“My baptism is my ticket of admission into European society and culture.” – Heinrich Heine “I converted out of conviction; the conviction that it is better to be a professor in St. Petersburg than a melamed (Jewish teacher) in Shnipishok.”   - David Chwolson See what we do not have to give up in order to fully access the world and our potential.

“Israel learns from their deeds.” - Yevamot, Tosafot 44b What the Rabbis were teaching in this succinct text is that we become what we do.   We do not necessarily become what we think.   Only actions create identity.

A few months before she chose to leave a safe kibbutz in Israel to parachute into Nazi territory in order to organize Jewish resistance, Hannah Senesh penned a quote from a Jewish writer in her diary: “All the darkness cannot extinguish the light of a single candle, yet one candle can illuminate all the darkness.” This has been true since the beginning of time.  Even  Adam learned the power of one candle against a sea of darkness.