A Soulful Journey

 "I am convinced that the only hell which exists is the inability to love."   Fydor Dostoyevsky

We are all in the same boat.  We have different paddles and sometimes it seems like some of us are seated so far up that we forget that our sisters and brothers are in the rear of the boat, pulling at their oars along with us.  Knowing this, we understand that our faith binds us both in spirit as well as destiny.  What happens to one of us happens to us all.  Our history bears this out as our detractors did not care whether we were bankers or water-carriers.  Now, more than ever, as anti-Semitism is on the rise we need one another; we belong to one another.  As God is One, so are we one.   There is an old story in the Talmud about a man who takes out a drill and begins making a hole under his seat.  The other passengers complain that he will sink the ship. He retorts, “I paid for this seat and I can do as I please.”     The tale is a warning that echoes through eternity.  We have a responsibil...

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core   of his personality.   No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless   he loves him. By his love he  is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and   even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore,   by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities.    By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities   come true .  - Viktor Frankl

  "The camel went and asked for horns and then found its ears were taken away."  - Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b In its inimitable style the Talmud reveals a great truth.  We cannot hold all that our eyes desire.  Something is lost when something is gained.

"One must pronounce a blessing for the evil as well as for the good."   -Talmud, Berachot 54a For who can tell what will ultimately turn out good or bad?

The elegant and dashing Otto Kahn, a noted investment banker (Kuhn, Loeb and Company) and controlling stockholder in the Metropolitan Opera Company, was strolling along Fifth Avenue with the humorist Marshall Wilder, who was a hunchback.  Kahn pointed out the church to which he belonged and asked, “Marshall, did you know that I was once a Jew?”  “Yes, Otto,” Wilder relied, “and once I was a hunchback.”  - Charles Silberman

 "A dove with an olive branch in its mouth ascended to heaven and asked God, "Sovereign of the Universe, O let me have my food from You even if it is as bitter as an olive.  Do not let me depend on man for my food even though it be as sweet as honey"."  - Talmud, Eruvin 18 b This, too, ought to be our uttered prayer.   We should not only always strive to be independent but help those who are dependent become filled with self-worth by becoming self-reliant.

1. "Often those that criticize others reveal what he himself lacks." -- Shannon L. Alder 2. "Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic." -- Jean Sibelius 3. "Don't waste your energy trying to change opinions...Do your thing, and don't care if they like it." -- Tina Fey 4. "Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you." -- Zig Ziglar 5. "Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart." -- Roy T. Bennett 6. "All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed--only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle." -- Nikola Tesla 7. "The final proof of greatness lies in being able to...

He who points his finger at his adversary has three fingers pointing back at himself. -anon

You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way.  -Abba Eban

In 1938 Douglas "Wrongway" Corrigan left from Floyd Bennet Field in New Jersey for California. He landed in Ireland. Sometimes God steers us toward unexpected destinations.  Accept.  Adapt and be open.

In your small circles of influence, choose to be the peace you seek. CAROL CONNER