A Soulful Journey

"When I was no more than six years of age, I did something that my father considered of reprimand.  He sent me to the local police station with a note.  The officer on duty read it and locked me in a jail cell for five minutes saying, 'This is what we do to naughty boys.'  I have, ever since, gone to any lengths to avoid arrest and confinement.  To you young people my message is - stay out of jail!'  - Alfred Hitchcock A good lesson to all parents for all children.

A poor man came to the Berdichever and petitioned him to offer prayers for his deliverance from poverty.  The rabbi asked the man to remind him of his request the next day.  “But rabbi,” protested the supplicant, “today I have a chance for a free trip home. “What can I do?” replied the rabbi.   “At this moment, my hear is full of another man’s troubles.   When the Lord will aid him, my heart will be free to take up yours.   I can assist you only when my heart feels your trouble as you do yourself.”   -Newman, Hasidic Anthology Only when we feel, are empathic, can we help one another emotionally and spiritually.

In an Iroquois story, twins -- Plant Boy and Flint are born.  Flint in being born damages the mother so that she dies.  Flint kills the animals: he is the hunting tradition.  Plant Boy is the agrarian principle.  - Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth In Torah, Jacob and Esau represents both extremes: one is the hunter and the other is the farmer. The same can be said for Cain and Abel earlier in the Torah. Maybe the same can be said for the members of your family.

A poor man came to the Berdichever and petitioned him to offer prayers for his deliverance from poverty.  The rabbi asked the man to remind him of his request the next day.  “But rabbi,” protested the supplicant, “today I have a chance for a free trip home." “What can I do?” replied the rabbi.   “At this moment, my heart is full of another man’s troubles.   When the Lord will aid him, my heart will be free to take up yours.   I can assist you only when my heart feels your trouble as you do yourself.”   -Newman, Hasidic Anthology When you pray strive to rid your mind of other random thoughts.  Focus.

Rav Soloveitchik made this statement:    “My father, may his memory be a blessing, practiced what he preached.   Never did I once have the privilege of being kissed by him.   When he would take leave of me he would shake my hand and say: ‘Go in peace and may God be with you’.” How do you bless the people you love?

“There ain’t nothing sweeter than naked emotion. You show me yours And I’ll show you mine.” – Kris Kristofferson How wonderful life would be if we gave up our mask and revealed the real us.   Or would it?

“If you call an Italian girl a hooker you’re in a lot of trouble.   Somebody will kill you.   You call a Jewish girl a hooker…”No kidding, I look like a hooker?”   It’s a compliment.   You have to be beautiful to make a living from that field.   A short fat yenta with a mustache; what are you going to give her, eighty cents?"    -Jackie Mason

“The difference between a psychiatrist and a magician is that a magician pulls rabbits out of his hat and a psychiatrist pulls habits out of rats.”   -Rabbi Louis Jacobs

"Why did none of the devout create psychoanalysis?  Why did it have to wait for a completely godless Jew?"  - S. Freud Maybe because the cure was dependent on our hard work?

“Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature it sympathize with a friend’s success.”   - Oscar Wilde Competitiveness and jealousy are companions that undermine real friendship and ultimate happiness.

“To save the world the apostle had to suffer in and for it, appear before the magistrates, subvert empires.   To redeem the Jewish people the rabbi had to enter into, share and reshape the life of the community, deliberately to eschew the politics of nations and patiently to submit to empires.”   - Jacob Neusner Two thousand years of exile and wandering ended in 1948 when finally we could govern ourselves.

"A Frenchman who went to college was surprised to learn in his literature about prose.  He remarked, "I've been speaking prose all my life!" - Rabbi Jonathan Magonet Life teaches us all that we need to know.  All we do have to pay attention.

"Include me out."  - Sam Goldwyn Sam Goldwyn had a penchant for saying what he meant without use of embellishments.  Can we do the same?  Perhaps we can be less infatuated with the sound of our own voice.

"The prophets did not teach us morality.  They taught us to be sensitive and upset about Him. "  - Abraham Joshua Heschel. If only we were less concerned with the distractions of the moment, like a child with his toys, and more focussed on God....

Arthur James Balfour met Chaim Weitzman at the Manchester Hotel in 1906. Weitzman was frustrated and said, “Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?” He sat up and looked before answering, “But Dr. Weitzman, we have London.” “That is true but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.”

A Russian Jew applied for a visa to emigrate to Israel.  He mailed the forms and was later interviewed by the KGB.  The official drew his attention to the reply he had given to the question, “Do you have any relatives abroad?” The Russian Jew answered “No.” However it was well known that he had a brother in Israel.   “Ah,” he replied.  “My brother is at home.  It is I who am abroad.”