A Soulful Journey

I n  The Maggid Speaks  Rabbi Paysach Krohn tells of Reb Naftali, the gabbai tzeddaka (charity collector) in a small town in Poland around  the turn of the 20th century. Late one night, after Reb Naftali had returned home from an exhausting day collecting tzeddaka for a local emergency, a beggar arrived at his door asking for 20 rubles. The money Reb Naftali had already collected was spoken for, and he felt unable to go back to the townsfolk once again for additional funds. But in the face of the beggar’s pitiful entreaties, Reb Naftali relented and prepared to ask the one man he thought might be in a position to help.  Unfortunately, this individual was young, irreverent and wild, someone who wasted his time drinking, gambling and carousing, and Reb Naftali dreaded the expected encounter. Coming upon the young man in the local tavern and in an  agreeable mood, Reb Naftali made his request. The young man acquiesced, but only on the condition that Reb Na...

Moshe was imperfect yet nevertheless was a worthy leader of Bnai Yisrael.   Avraham avinu was a faulted human being who lied and said his beautiful wife was his sister in order to protect himself, nevertheless he was our worthy patriarch. Otto Schindler was a womanizer yet he risked his life and saved many helpless Jews. Martin Luther King was an adulterer yet he was an unmatched Civil Rights leader. Sadat attacked Israel on Yom Kippur yet he made peace with Israel. What other flawed human beings deserve our praise and appreciation? -Rabbi Gershon Weissman Don't be too quick to condemn for no person lives without warts.

A story is told of someone told movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn  that George Bernard Shaw's plays would make good movies, and he was trying to get the rights without paying too much.  “Think of the millions who would otherwise never see your plays. Think of the contribution to art,” Goldwyn said.  Shaw replied, speaking for creative people throughout history dealing with their financial backers: “The trouble is, Mr. Goldwyn, that you think of nothing but art, and I think of nothing but money.” 

A Hasid once came to the court of the Kotzker Rebbe. The Rebbe asked him, “Why have you come here?” “I have come to find God,” the Hasid replied. “it is unfortunate that you have come so far and spent so much to waste your time,” the rebbe countered.  “God is everywhere. You could have just found him just as well had you stayed home.” ”If so for what purpose should I have come?” he asked. ”To find yourself,” the Rebbe answered.  “You should have come to find yourself.” There many who seek that which is right in front of them. The object that we are seeking is not lost, we are.

We have the testimony of a great Hasidic figure, the mysterious Leib, son of Sarah, who proclaimed to anyone willing to listen: " I came to the Maggid not to listen to discourses, nor to learn from his wisdom; I came to watch him tie his shoelaces." Choose your hero wisely then observe closely for if you chose well everything he does will be sotted with godliness.

First tell me this: Is there some secluded spot in the vicinity where I can go to pray?" Rebbe   Nachman asked. He had just arrived in Breslov, the town whose name the Breslov movement has borne ever since. "I know of a place that would be most suitable, the Hasid replied, "but it's quite far from here." "Far?" the Rebbe exclaimed. "What do you mean by 'far'? Far from the mind…or from the heart?" Rebbe Nachman later taught: When your heart yearns, distance is no obstacle. The Gentle Weapon

Be what you is and not what you ain’t. For if you is what you ain’t, you ain’t what you is.

Abimi, son of R. Abahu taught: There is one who feeds his father pheasants as food, yet [this] drives him from the world; whereas another may make him grind in a mill and [this] brings him to the world to come!  In the Yerushalmi Talmud, we read its  interpretation : There is one who feeds his father fatted birds and inherits Gehenom and one who ties his father to a mill and inherits heaven. How is it that one can feed his father fatted birds and inherit Gehenom? There once was a man who fed his father fatted birds. Once, his father said to him, "Son, where did you get this?" He said back, "Old man, eat and shut up like a dog." It turns out that while he feeds his father fatted birds, he still inherits Gehenom. How is it that one can tie his father to a mill and still inherit heaven? There once was a man who was a wheat-grinder. A command came from the king to the grinder. The son said to his father, "Father, grind in my place so that if they come ...

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." - Anne Lamott

A father was arguing with his son for wanting to marry a woman of whom he did not approve. “I can find you a girl who is rich, young and beautiful.” “No, father, I want to marry Sarah.” “And why do you insist on marrying Sarah?” “We are in love with each other, father, and I believe she will make me happy.” “Well, and if she makes you happy – what good will it do?” Cute story with a powerful truth.   It is true so people are good companions for life’s journey but no one should make us happy or sad.  We find it within ourselves.

A Tanna recited before Rabbi Nahman: When a man troubles his father and his mother, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "I did right in not dwelling among them, for had I dwelt among them, they would have troubled Me." - Kiddushin 31 It is vital to respect your parent.

Rabbi Shimon b. Levi said: A person's Evil Inclination gathers strength against him daily and seeks to slay him, for it is said: "The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him" (Psalms 37:32); and were not the Holy One, blessed be He, to help him, he would not be able to prevail against him, for it is said: "The Lord will not leave him in his hand." - Kiddushin 35 Never abandon hope.  Never lose your faith in God.

Rav Judah said in the name of Shmuel: They asked Rabbi Eliezer: How far does the honor of parents extend?  He said: Go out and see what a certain gentile, Dama ben Netinah is his name, did in Askhkelon. The Sages sought jewels for the breast-plate, at a profit of six-hundred thousand [gold dinars] but the key that unlocked his chest with the jewels was lying under his father's head.  The did not wish to wake him from his sleep.  The following year the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him his reward. A rare red heifer was born in his herd. When the Sages of Israel went to him to buy it, he said to them, "I know you, that even if I asked you for all the money in the world you would pay me. But I ask of you only the money which I lost through my father's honor." -Kiddushin 31-2 Honoring one's parents is a paramount mitzvah in the Torah.  It is also the undergirding of civilization.

The Nazi ghetto did not make me a religious person, and I did not become a romantic in the forests with the Partizans.  On the day I first arrived in Jerusalem, before even washing my face or changing my clothes, I went to the Kotel.  It was 1945, and the place was narrow, crowded, dirty and depressing.  British soldiers were stationed there, armed with guns and rubber truncheons.  I had no friends or relatives who longed for those large stones.  I did not go there to pray, my head was uncovered, and I had no plan to push a note into a crack between the stones. Behind me I could hear the donkeys braying and the Arab merchants whose language I did not understand, and I was flushed with the odd sensation of fear and foreignness and the feeling that I belong somewhere else.  And then someone pulled at my sleeve and asked in a whisper, “maybe you can join the minyan?” Had the fellow called out like the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s young men who grab you by the ...

Rabbi: “Why is it that I’ve barely begin my sermon before you close your eyes and go to sleep?  You don’t even know what I’m going to say.” Congregant: “Don’t worry, rabbi, I trust you.”  -Rabbi Colin Eimer

R. Huna son of R. Joshua would not walk four cubits bareheaded, saying: " The Shekhinah is above my head." Kiddushin 40a One must always be aware that God's eye is upon us.

Rabbi Yehudah Satmerer would often ridicule his audience.  During one sermon, when he realized what he had done, he paused and said," My friends, do not think for a moment that I intended all those harsh words only for you.  In reality I meant myself.  But since I am aware that you are no better than I am, I spoke a little louder so that you too should hear." Be very careful before criticizing another.  Is your house all in order that you can speak about someone else's house?

My Kotel  You had been in my dreams, imagination, At another time, another place, so long ago. When at first my eyes beheld your splendor Your ancient stones gazed upon me Giants rising in a narrow, dusty alley Wisps of green moss breaking the pattern Of square, grey, uneven hewn rocks. Epochs of history, carved deeply Enfolded before my inner eye. I searched the shapes, contours of Majestic, silent, solid rocks Their weathered, sculptured faces Unchanged, unmoved, standing firm Against stormy winds of history Repulsing waves of enemies, invaders Unyielding in their stoic stance. You have not changed, not aged You are as when I first beheld Your splendor so long ago. With benevolence you greet the masses Crowding, pushing, swaying frantically In silent, fervent prayer, foreheads leaning On your cool, comforting stones. Eager hands of young an old Place tiny scrolls between your crevices; Prayers, promises, notes of thanks. You, mysterious source of hope, strength Witness...

In the Talmud we find the statement,   Zekhirah meviah l'yedei asiyah , which means "remembering leads to deeds" (R. H. 27a, Shevuot 20b, Men. 43b) . We take time to revisit the past, recall what came before us in an effort to become wiser, learn from previous generations so that we do not make the same mistakes and recall the actions of our forebears who conceived us and worked hard to make our lives better.

"Phaedrus sees the mask of a tragic hero, thoroughly examines it and exclaims, "What a big face and not a brain in it." - Pirsig? We all wear masks of various shapes and sizes that conform to the image we want to project.  Yet the real us is so much more magnificent that an any front we put up.

“Feelings are so unpredictable.  How does anyone stay married for forty years?  This, it seems, is more of a miracle than the parting of the red Sea, though my father, in his naiveté, holds the latter to be a greater achievement.” – Woody Allen No, love and maintaining is surely the greater.

"First tell me this: Is there some secluded spot in the vicinity where I can go to pray?" Rebbe   Nachman asked. He had just arrived in Breslov, the town whose name the Breslov movement has borne ever since. "I know of a place that would be most suitable, the Hasid replied, "but it's quite far from here." "Far?" the Rebbe exclaimed. "What do you mean by 'far'? Far from the mind…or from the heart?" Rebbe Nachman later taught: When your heart yearns, distance is no obstacle. The Gentle Weapon

"The famous French writer Romain Rolland describes how restless Beethoven was in his youth. From early childhood, Beethoven used to hear melodies. He would say that there was an orchestra hidden somewhere-under the table, behind the curtain, in the attic, or in the oven.  He always heard beautiful melodies playing, and he thought it was somewhere outside of himself.  The orchestra was indeed an orchestra.  But it was hidden in him, not outside of him.”   - Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Inside each of us is something truly grand waiting to be released.  It is a gift from God.

The Kelmer Maggid came to a city where a modern Talmud Torah had been erected.  The leaders wanted the new school to receive a certain amount of the charity money that belonged to the old school.  A heated argument arose and the Kelmer Maggid was asked to give his opinion.  So he rose and addressed the people in his own inimitable way: “My good friends, I want to tell you a story.  A man arrived at the gates of paradise dressed in modern clothes, with a trimmed beard in the fashion of a Frenchman.  He wanted to enter.  Father Abraham, who stands near the entrance, approached him and asked, ‘Who are you? ‘I am the Vilner Maggid,’ the man explained. Abraham stared the newcomer’s attire and repeated, ‘You are the Vilner Maggid?’  Tell me, in which synagogue did you preach?’ After a few similar questions that man broke down and confessed.  ‘The truth is that I am a former actor of a Vilna theatre....

Science is supposed to be objective, true.  “But I would also reject any claim that personal preference, the root of aesthetic judgment, does not play a key role in science. …the stereotype of a fully rational and objective “scientific method,” with individual scientists as logical (and interchangeable) robots, is self-serving mythology.” - Stephen Jay Gould We place ourselves, our biases and predilections into everything that we say, do and write.  There is no objective reality common to all.  Our ideas come from the lens of our inner self.

“Rabbi Zvi Chaim Yisroel…was unanimously hailed as the wisest man of the Renaissance by his fellow Hebrews, who totaled a sixteenth of one percent of the population.”  - Woody Allen We are a minute portion of the populace but never underestimate the power of one.

Shaming another is a grievous sin.  Here are three admonitions from our sages: One should be extremely careful to never shame another in public. This sin is akin to murder; just as blood is spilled in the act of murder, so too when one is shamed the blood drains from his face. One who publicly embarrasses his fellow loses his share in the  World to Come . This sin is considered more severe than a borderline adulterous act.   -Baba Metzia 59a   It is forbidden to embarrass a fellow Jew, especially in public.    Even though one is not lashed for embarrassing another, it is a grave sin.    Our Sages said: "Anyone who publicly mortifies his companion has no portion in the World to Come." Therefore, a person should be careful not to publicly embarrass a fellow Jew, whether of greater or lesser stature; one must not call another by an embarrassing name, nor relate a shameful matter in his presence.   - R ambam A  di...

“Be impartial in judgment: hear out the low and high alike.  Fear no man for judgment is God’s.”  - Deuteronomy 1:16  “You shall not favor a poor man in his cause.” - Exodus 23:3 “You shall not subvert the rights of your needy in their disputes.”   -Exodus. 23:6 “You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich: judge your kinsman fairly.” - Leviticus  19:15

Three statisticians go deer hunting with bows and arrows. They spot a big buck and take aim. One shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the right. The second shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the left. The third statistician jumps up and down yelling, “We got him! We got him!” Life is not about averages.  It is about counting each moment as unique, of incalculable worth.

"In your sermon don't yell them what was in the day's paper.  The are much better at it." - Rabbi Dow Marmur A rabbi's purpose is to engage people in morality not the latest news or sports scores.

Mother: "Before I entrust my daughter to you I must find out if you are an honest man." Young man: "Please do, and tell me about it because I am anxious to know." What we think of ourselves and how others perceive may be entirely different.  A true friend will tell you in away you can hear it.

“Science can describe what has happened to a person; only religion can call it a tragedy.”  - Rabbi Harold Kushner We are an amalgam of tautological and creative thinking. The first is science’s call on our thinking while the other is concerned. Which motivates you with greater intensity?

A man applied to become a lion tamer as a job. At his interview he was told to enter the cage. “But what will I do if he lunges at me?” exclaimed the young man. “Just crack the hip and he will retreat. But if that does not work take the chair and shove it toward the lion.  If that does not work take some manure and throw it at his face.” “Where will I get manure from?” “Don’t worry.  It will be there.” - Rabbi Colin Eimer

Many people approach marriage like the 4-year-old boy whose parents brought home from the hospital a new brother.  The mother said, "Here is your baby brother that you said you wanted." The young lad stepped back and said, "Yes." The mother pressed, "You said you wanted him.  Now what do you have to say?" The 4-year-old thought for a moment and then said, "I have changed my mind." Children can do that but a loving relationship means working through the hard times.