A Soulful Journey

  Rebbe Elimelech imagined when he would approach the Heavenly Tribunal, they would ask: “Were you just?” I shall say no.   “We are charitable?” I will say no.   “Did you devote your life to study? Prayer?” No and no.   Then the Supreme Judge will smile and say, “Elimelech, you speak the truth—for this alone you may enter Paradise.”   We may not be perfect but we can always strive for truth.

  " The opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference. "   " For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying. " " In any free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty - all are responsible. " Abraham Joshua Heschel  

When Bar Kappara learned that Rabbi Yehudah died he said, "The Angels on High and mortals on earth struggled for domination of the Holy Ark. The Angels were victorious and the Ark was taken on High. This midrash is about the state of the world in which we live.  The world is only upheld by the sacred acts of the enlightened.  When they are no more, holiness is swept to heaven.

Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust, but verify.”    On our currency in the US are the words, “In God we trust,” to which one wit wryly replied, “All others pay cash.” Stephen Covey wrote, “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” 

 "And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good."  (Genesis 1:31) Rabbi Meir asked, "What was very good Death." - Beresheit Rabbah 9:5 What would lie be if it were infinite.  So God created an ultimate release.

  When the time comes for us to let go of the creations of our middle lives, we are like a tree in autumn dropping leaves, as we release our past attachments and preparing for a new phase of growth. The children move on, and careers shift or end. The lines on our faces, the stretch marks, and the grey hairs are beautiful testaments to the fullness of our experience. In the winter of our lives, we become stripped down to our essence like a tree. We may become more radiant than ever at this stage, because our inner light shines brighter through our eyes as time passes. Beauty at this age comes from the very core of our being—our essence. This essence is a reminder that there is nothing to fear in growing older and that there is a kind of beauty that comes only after one has spent many years on earth.

  One day a mosquito landed on the horn of a bull,   After it had stayed there,   Resting for a long time,   The insect felt like moving on again.   The bull was a formidable beast,   So the mosquito politely asked the bull:   “Would you mind if I go now?”   “Were you speaking to me?” said the bull.   “Yes,” said the mosquito, and repeated its question.   “Listen, you tiny gnat,” answered the bull,   “I did not notice when you came,   And I will not notice if you go.”   Katz, Night Tales A moving parable about life.  We should always be humble as we are the gnat on the horns of the bull.  

  When we reveal ourselves to our partner and find that this brings healing rather than harm, we make an important discovery – that intimate relationship can provide a sanctuary from the world of façades, a sacred space where we can be ourselves, as we are… This kind of unmasking - speaking our truth, sharing our inner struggles, and revealing our raw edges - is sacred activity, which allows two souls to meet and touch more deeply.     -John Wellwood

  “Modern man may be characterized as a being who is callous to catastrophes. A victim of enforced brutalization, his sensibility is being increasingly reduced; his sense of honor is on the wane. The distinction between right and wrong is becoming blurred. All that is left to us is our being horrified at the loss of our sense of honor.” ―  God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism

" On the one hand, in a Sukkah the shadow must be greater than the sun.     That is true of our lives too. On the other hand, the branches must not be so thick that they blot out the stars.  We must see them.  “You do not need stars in the daytime when you have the sun.  But at night, and death is night, you need the stars".” Rabbi Henry Fisher Question: What are “the stars” in your life? 

Rabbi Hiyya Ruba said, “I never had kavannah in my life.     Once I tried to have kavannah and I thought in my heart and said, “Who will enter before the King first the tax collector of the head of the community?”   Learning to pray with intensity is no simple task.  As Rabbi Hiyya Ruba admitted, the mind ceaselessly wanders to all kinds of extraneous thoughts when we should be focused solely on HaKadosh Baruch Hu. -Yerushalmi, Berakhot 2:4

  When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker's circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking. "I have an idea, boss," his chauffeur said. "I've heard you give this speech so many times. I'll bet I could give it for you." Einstein laughed loudly and said, "Why not? Let's do it!" When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur's cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein's speech and even answered a few questions expertly. Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody's foo...

" If you get a LOAN at a bank, you’ll be paying it back for 30 years.  If  you ROB a bank, you’ll be out in 10 years.    Follow me for more financial advice."  - Rabbi Arnold Stiebel Life is ironic.   And  funny.   Laugh today at the absurdity of reality.