A Soulful Journey

  This continues to be agonizing.    We have waited for more than five months. As early reports emerged from the cauldron of hate roiling out of Gaza into Israel we were horrified to learn of the unforgivable acts of brutality by Hamas.  The invaders proudly took videos of them desecrating Jewish bodies and abducting young and old, shorn, bleeding and weeping to sites still unknown in Gaza.  We do not know what has become of them.  They violated women and decapitated babies wreaking destruction and leaving a trail of blood. It is no wonder sleep has been elusive. There has also been an outpouring of support from the non-Jewish community.  People have called texting, stopped by the synagogue to register their solidarity and dismay at the evil acts perpetrated by Hamas. Many have asked what they can do to show their support.  Here is the answer we can give them: Speak up.  When people say that the Israelis deserve the murderous assault, tell them they are supporting violence and terror. 

  Rabbi Menachem the son of Rabbi Yossi taught: “ ‘A mitzvah is a candle. The Torah is light.’ The verse used the analogy of a candle for a mitzvah and that of light for the Torah teaching that just as a candle only offers protection for a brief period, so too, a mitzvah offers protection only temporarily. The Torah, on the other hand, is described as light. Just as the light offers protection forever, so too, the Torah offers protection forever.” ~Talmud Sotah 21A Sit in the light.  Absorb its energy.  Then become the light.

 “It’s natural to trade with joy, you know.  “I couldn’t contain my joy.”  It’s a wonderful expression.  I couldn’t contain it; I had to say something about it.  You go to a football game and somebody make a marvelous run or something, and you say, “My God, I did you see that?”  And you sal the fellow on the back beside you.  “Look at that wonderful thing!”  You have to share joy…. But it’s not so natural to share pain….” Frederick Buechner There are two sides to not sharing our anguish.  One of them its that it avoids confronting the truth, our truth. The other is that we never truly reveal ourselves to others when pain is such a large component of who we are.

 “When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are.  It means you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us.” -   Frederick Buechner

 “What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”  - Frederick Buechner Compare life’s challenges and pains and losses to what is gained every day and drink deeply from the drought of life.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.   Mark Twain

Arthur Hertzberg relates that Kaplan would regularly tear apart the sermons students gave in homiletics class, a habit that one day prompted Hertzberg to repeat in his sermon, word for word, remarks that Kaplan had made the week before. Kaplan immediately stood up and tore the sermon apart. "But Dr. Kaplan," Hertzberg protested, "I'm only saying what you said last week." "Ah, but Arthur," came the reply, "I have learned something since then."     Dr. Arnold Eisen in “ Kaplan's  Judaism  At Sixty: A Reappraisal”:

  Reb Zusya was laying on his deathbed surrounded by his disciples. He was crying and no one could comfort him. One student asked, "Why do you cry? You were almost as wise as Moses and as kind as Abraham." Reb Zusya answered, "When I pass from this world and appear before the Heavenly Tribunal, they won't ask me, 'Zusya, why weren't you as wise as Moses or as kind as Abraham,' rather, they will ask me, 'Zusya, why weren't you Zusya?' Why didn't I fulfill my potential, why didn't I follow the path that could have been mine.

Story #1 The Kotzker Rebbe was returning home to his town by train.  His compartment had three other passengers who wanted to play cards.  But they needed a fourth to play.  They asked him to join them, but the Rebbe (who was not known to them) declined to play saying he preferred to sit and study. The three men wouldn’t take no for an answer.  They insisted he play.  Still the Rebbe refused.  Things got out of hand and a tussle ensued.  But their train station was announced and one by one they got off the train.  To the great surprise of the three others the Rebbe was welcomed home by a throng of his hasidim.   The three men were now terribly embarrassed by their treatment of this great rabbi.  They had no idea who he was!  They decided to visit the Rebbe the next day to beg forgiveness.   The next day they knocked on the door of the rabbi’s home and were greeted by his son.  They told him that they wanted to speak to the Rabbi and apologize for how they had treated him on the train.