A Soulful Journey

Ravin bar Rav Adda said that Rabbi Yitzḥak said: From where [in the Torah] is it derived  that the Holy One, Blessed be God, is located in a synagogue? As it is stated:  God  stands in the divine assembly; among the divine beings God pronounces judgment .  (Psalms 82:1)   -Talmud, Berachot 6

"It is not enough just to know laws.  One must strive to perform them and understand them."  - Rambam It is a vital that we open our minds to fathom the "whys" of life.    As Socrates uttered, "an unexamined life is not worth living."  This is profoundly true with Torah.

We endure hardship and pain.  We suffer when we deserve it and when we do not.  Yet, in our faith we believe there can always be a positive outcome to our suffering.  In fact, Rashi, one of the greatest scholars who ever lived, claimed that through our pain we become purified like smelted gold.  We learn from our tsooris, (troubles) One thousand years ago he commented, "We embrace our troubles...to recall the miracles that bring us redemption." -Rashi on Shabbat 13b.

"One good deed induces another."  -Avot 4:2 Make it happen.

After an evening of talk, perhaps about the fringes of knowledge, or some new possibility of climbing into the minds and senses of animals, we would go out on the lawn, where we took turns at an amusing little astronomical rite. We searched until we found, with or without glasses, the faint, heavenly spot of light-mist beyond the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus, when one or the other of us would then recite: “That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. “It is as large as our Milky Way. “It is one of a hundred million galaxies. “It is 750,000 light-years away. “It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” After an interval, Colonel Roosevelt would grin at me and say: “Now I think we are small enough! Let’s go to bed.” We must have repeated this salutary ceremony forty or fifty times in the course of years, and it never palled. From  The Book of Naturalists A healthy persepctve on n how small and  delicate  we are is  sometimes  ncesssary

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT    ABBOTT:  Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?   COSTELLO:  Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.   ABBOTT:  Mac?   COSTELLO:  No, the name's Lou.   ABBOTT:  Your computer?   COSTELLO : I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.   ABBOTT:  Mac?   COSTELLO:  I told you, my name's Lou.   ABBOTT:  What about Windows?   COSTELLO:  Why? Will it get stuffy in here?   ABBOTT:  Do you want a computer with Windows?   COSTELLO:  I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?   ABBOTT:  Wallpaper.   COSTELLO:  Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.     ABBOTT:  Software for Windows?   COSTELLO:  No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?   ABBOTT:  Office.   COSTELLO:  Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?     ABBOTT:  I just did.   COSTELLO:  You just did

In the midst of lonely days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, “Lo, I will be with you.” — MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

I believe in the human race.  I believe in the warm heart.  I believe in man’s integrity.  I believe in the goodness of a free society.  And in the largest sense, I believe that what I did was done for me–that it was my faith in God that sustained me in my fight.  And that what was done for me must and will be done for others.                             — JACKIE ROBINSON With all the abide and scorn hat he took, he is an paragon of how a real mensch behaves.

There is the belief among rabbis that by performing mitzvot, one would be actively participating in Tikkun Olam (crafting a better world). With this in mind, it is difficult for any person to do all the 613 mitzvot all of the time.  Therefore many rabbis specialized in mitzvot and made this their forte.  There is the passage in the Torah which states that you must help your neighbor's afflicted animal.  Taking this portion a rabbi long ago, used to travel around and look for animals in distress, just to help them.

They that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as eagles  They shall run, and not be weary They shall walk and not faint. — ISAIAH 40:30

Rabbi Berel Wein offers a meaningful explanation of the small alef i n the Torah reading of the first word in Leviticus, Vayikra.  He says that the small  alef teaches us that God spoke very softly. Only Moses could hear God, not the Israelites. In the same way, Elijah at Mount Sinai finds that God is not in the strong wind, the earthquake or the fire. Instead, God speaks to him with a “still, small voice.” So the One speaks today.   Listen.

In an address to the Chicago Decalogue Society in 1954 Albert Einstein declared, "The existence and validity of human rights are not written in the stars." He knew.  As a refugee from Hitler Einstein understood that human rights is not automatic.  We must work to maintain it.

The day may dawn when fair play, love for one’s fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell.  Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair. — WINSTON CHURCHILL

By my love and hope I beseech you:  Do not throw away the hero in your soul!   Hold holy your highest hope. — FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

Hope is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all. — EMILY DICKENSON

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger - something better, pushing right back. "  - Albert Camus

A professor was invited to speak at a military base and was met by an unforgettable solider named Ralph.  As they headed toward the baggage-claim area.  Ralph kept disappearing: once to help an older woman with her suitcase; once to lift two toddlers so that they could see Santa Claus; and again to give someone directions.  Each time he came back. "Where did you learn to live like that?" the professor asked. "During the war," said Ralph.  Then he told the professor about Vietnam.  His job was to clear minefields, and he saw friends meet untimely ends, one after another before his eyes. "I learned to live between steps," he said.  "I never knew whether the next one would be my last, so I had to get everything I could out of that moment between picking up my foot and putting it down again.  Every step felt like a whole world."  -Barbara Brown Taylor Make this day count.

" Shamor " in Hebrew indicates those actions we may take that has attached them a prohibition (like do not desecrate the Shabbat).  " Zachor " refers to positive commandments, like chanting kiddush on Shabbat.  While the prohibition is punishable, according to the Torah, and the the positive command is not, the rabbis have always referred to the positive commands, mitzvot, as being much greater.  The positive mitzvah is based on love while the prohibition or negative command carries with it penalties.  - Louis Jacobs, based on the Rambam

When involved with money, the holiest saint forgets himself, the B'nai Yissachar, one of the greatest Hasidic Rebbes once said: "I know people so pure that the fiery angels trembled before them.  Yet, when becoming involved with money they forget themselves." It is so easy to be distracted by what we think are valuables when we should really be concerned with our values.

"The chuppah does not promise that love or hope or pledges will keep out weather or catastrophe...The man and woman have left the desert of their loneliness. They have come from far away to be together. The flimsiness of the chuppah reminds them that the only thing that is real about a home is the people in it who love and choose to be together, to be a family. The only anchor that they will have will be holding onto each others' hands. " - Debra Cash , " The Succah and the Chuppah "

A halachic authority once argued with another Jew about a business deal.  They went to the local rabbi for a decision.  That local rabbi ruled against the great authority, quoting an opinion cited by that very same rabbi! "Oy vey," he cried.  "I was so obsessed with money that I did not even remember what I myself wrote!" During trying times, remember what is most important, not the little things, the pebbles of life.  After all, life is so rich and abundant that when we pause to look around we realize how incredible rich and blessed we are.

"Money isn't everything, according to those who have it." -Malcolm Forbes

Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev said,  "Lord of the universe, I want to propose a deal. We have many sins. You have much forgiveness. Let us exchange our sins for your forgiveness. And if you should say that this is not a fair exchange, then my reply is: if we had no sins,  what would you do with Your forgiveness?"  - Elie Wiesel As much as we want to be forgiven, God wants to forgive. Perhaps todays is a good day to imitate God.

Israel Zangwill remarked that in the Middle Ages kings rewarded anyone who discovered a new pleasure while the Jews continually looked for new mitzvahs. - Louis Jacobs What is the motivating force in your life?  Pursuing pleasure or God?

"A Mitzvah requires kavannah."  - Talmud All things holy require "heart."  Mitzvahs are what God has commanded. Isn't it a wonderful thing to have God actually wants, needs us? That is why the Talmud tells us to be filled with intentional joy with every opportunity we get to do His Will.