A Soulful Journey

Everything Matters

2012-02-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

A law student was finishing a course in federal income tax. As he was walking in to take the final he spotted a penny, heads up, on the ground. He picked it up and said to his professor, “It must mean good luck for the exam.”

“Not necessarily,” he replied. “But it does mean you have taxable income.” - Franklin E. Eck Jr, Reader's Digest

Be accountable. Be responsible. It is God’s gift to you and the best gift you can give yourself.

Accountability

2012-02-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “God is concern, not only power. God is He to whom we are accountable. In the wake of religious insight, we retain an awareness that the transcendent God is He to Whom our conscience is open.” - God in Search of Man
In other words, God wants us to be accountable. He does not desire us to pass by the many roads of life without looking both ways.

Accountability

2012-02-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

At the Phoenix House in New York, the celebrated drug rehabilitation center in New York City, newcomers arrive and gather for their first session. They sit around in their chosen seats and gab. Then, someone will say something like, “It isn’t your mother or society or even the pushers who put the needle in your arm. You did.” Only then does the therapeutic process begin. - US News and World Report

This is what we are supposed to do every morning as we face God.

How Evil Grows

2012-01-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

Rav Assi said: "At first the evil impulse is as thin as a spider's gossamer, but in the end it is as thick as a cart-rope."
- Sukkah 52
`Rava said: "At first the evil impulse is call a "wayfarer", then a "guest", then finally a "master"."- Sukkah 52b

Bonding

2012-01-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Sitting quietly, eating dinner together, walking on a path is a uniting experience. It is what cements relationships. The avoidance of people does the opposite. Perhaps this is a wise warning to the hand-held computer generation.

“Sociologists say that going to the movies is a bonding experience. It probably has to do with the way your feet stick to the floor.” - Robert Orben Wall Street Journal

Well Done or Done Well?

2012-01-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

Life of the World,  grant me a full life—  a life which may be considered long  because it has been filled with right living,  and considered rich  because it has been filled with  holy acts.  

- Rebbe Nachman, The Gentle Weapon

Two Quotes for the Traveler

2012-01-18T13:01:00.000-05:00

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  But I have promises to keep,  And miles to go before I sleep,  And miles to go before I sleep.  

-- Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,  And sorry I could not travel both  And be one traveler, long I stood  And looked down one as far as I could  To where it bent in the undergrowth.  

-- Robert Frost, Two Roads

Our life is a journey. It is not the destination; it never was. It is the journey itself.

Do Not Grunble

2012-01-17T18:25:00.000-05:00

"Do not grumble. It can lead to other sins." - Derekh Erets Zuta

Close to God

2012-01-17T18:23:00.000-05:00

"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?"

The Gentle Weapon, p. 2

Rebbe Nachman later taught: When your heart yearns, distance is no obstacle.

2012-01-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

“…the obsessive concern with money, goods, and things is a reflection not of capitalism or socialism, but of industrialism. It is a reflection of the central role of the marketplace in all societies in which production is divorced from consumption, in which everyone is dependent upon the marketplace rather than on his or her own productive skills for the necessities of life.” - Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave

Written decades ago, the basic human core and desire for more has not changed. Has it? Can human nature change?

The Broken Heart

2012-01-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

Why must a cantor, according to Jewish Law, be married?

Because he has to pray before the people with a broken heart and a plaintive voice.

In a relationship there is growth. To get along with another person, live with their idiosyncrasies, and to give up a part of ourselves for the other is the path of personal development. It works the same way with prayer. We seek leaders who have bled and grown, not saints.

Peace and Sharm-al-Sheikh

2012-01-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

The town of Sharm-al-Sheikh sits at a magnificent crossroads. It is rich, luxuriant and beautiful. Sharm-al-Sheikh was relinquished to Egypt as a part of peace agreement. That is why Moshe Dayan once said, “If I had to choose between peace without Sharm-al-Sheikh and Sharm-al-Sheikh without peace, I would certainly take Sharm-al-Sheikh.”

And yet when it came time to consider giving up the land there was little dissention for the sake of peace. See how shalom can change the most hardened soul?

History and the Future

2012-01-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

It is hard to conceive of Judaism existing in a vacuum. For the great length of most of our past we have been subsumed under power more vast than our own. One of the more difficult objectives for Jews and Christians alike is to grow beyond history, to not be limited by it.

“We know what the figure of Christ has meant to the art, music and literature of the west…. It is much harder to say what Torah would have meant to creative arts, the course of relations among nations and men, the hopes and aspirations of ordinary folk. For between Christ, universally known and triumphant, and Torah, the spiritual treasure of a tiny, harassed, abused people, seldom fully known and never victorious, stands the abyss…” - Jacob Neusner, There We Sat Down

The Meaning of Chosen

2012-01-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

“I have doubts whether every one of us suffers from the Oedipus complex. I am inclined to believe that many of us are afflicted with and Abraham complex. Of Abraham, the Lord says, “I have chosen him so that he can command his sons and his household after him, to teach them the way of the Lord; to act in charity and in justice.” (Genesis 18:19) To keep the Abraham complex alive in our children remains our responsibility.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

Chosen

2012-01-13T16:35:00.002-05:00

It is imperative that we see ourselves as both unique and indispensable. Both, despite the fact that they contradict, are true. On the other hand, perhaps neither is true. Maybe the truth lies somewhere between those polar opposites.

One great Native American teacher said, “Of course our village is at the center of the world. But then, every village is at the center of the world.” –Jonathan Omer-Man

2012-01-10T13:00:00.000-05:00

There are many types of criticism. Some are damaging while others are intended for growth. Sometimes it is totally dependent on the way they are taken.

“The secret of Reviews is that you don’t read them.” – Dick Cavett quoting Woody Allen

Know yourself. Know your limitations as well as expansiveness.

Trust

2012-01-10T12:58:00.000-05:00

Merciful One, may I always trust in Your endless and infinite kindness and mercy…  Help me to hold fast in my faith in Your holy Name,  that You will always see me through to the good and never abandon me.  - Likutei Tefillot I:137

Wisdom

2012-01-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

In the face of all life’s questions, what do we need in order to choose wisely?

We need the sensitivity of a stethoscope, the stability of a gyroscope, and the vision of a telescope.

-anonymous

Choose

2012-01-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

An aged tribal leader was facing a rebellion. Youthful warriors wanted to take over and embarrass the leadership. They decided to hold a bird before the leader and ask him to say whether it was alive or dead.

If he answered “alive” they would squeeze the bid’s neck and show how wrong he was. If the leader said it was dead they would release the bird to the air and prove he erred.

The group came before the leader holding the helpless bird and asked the chief, “Is the bird alive or dead?”

He wisely answered, ”The choice is in your hands.”

Stories are told to express morals. Some lessons are clear and universal while others are specific. This tale is one of the latter. So, the question comes to the heart to the reader: What does this mean?

Self or Other?

2012-01-08T21:59:00.001-05:00

Historian Christopher Lasch had a book which provides a history and critique of progress. It was called The True and Only Heaven: Progress and its Critics. As Lasch saw it, the critical juncture cam when American culture placed choice above duty as its highest moral value and proposes, “one’s highest duty is to oneself.”

Without a doubt society wrestles with the ideal of society versus the important of the individual in every age. Our faith too tackles this notion with certitude through the stories we tell of heroes and villains, good and evil, and hope and hopelessness throughout the Torah. The upshot? It is not all about me.

Choices

2012-01-06T16:08:00.003-05:00

Sigmund Freud was asked if he could sum up the theory of psychoanalysis in one sentence. He said, “Where id is, let ego be.”

Life is a struggle and should be. We always have growth at our fingertips.

The Choice

2012-01-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

- E.B. White

No one ever promised that it would be easy to craft a meaningful life. We are always torn between extremes. That is why when we make the right choice it is not only momentous but represents a victory over our basest self.

Tithes of Joy

2012-01-05T17:05:00.000-05:00

"Let a person fulfill the Torah with joy, and it will be accounted as righteousness. Let a person separate leave-offerings and give tithes in joy, and it will be accounted as righteousness."  –Tanna Debay Eliyahu

In doing with a joyful heart we are whole and God smiles.

The Goals are in the Questions

2012-01-05T17:02:00.000-05:00

Paul Gaugin painted a masterpiece in which he inscribed the eternal questions of truth: “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?”

We do much the same on Rosh Hashanna in the opening prayer, “Where are we? What is our attainment? Our power? What can we say before the God of our ancestors?”

Perhaps life would have more meaning if we treated each day as a Rosh Hashanna.

Joy Not Oy

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

We seek many things in our lifetime. At different stages it is love, money, God, meaning, health, cars, physical beauty, intellectual prowess, and a host of other alternating hopes. There are certain constants -- not many -- amid the many changes we undergo. Here is what the Talmud advises:

The Holy Spirit rests on one who has a joyous heart.   – Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah

Joy is a great goal.

The Secret

2012-01-05T16:54:00.000-05:00

Pssst. Pass it on. Here is the great secret of life. It has the power to make us whole. Here it is:

"Ingratitude to man is ingratitude to God." – Shmuel HaNagid

Bread

2011-12-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

There are said to be thirteen benefits derived from eating bread in the morning.

-Bread protects from heat

and cold.

-It wards off malign spirits and forces of destruction.

-It invites the simple to become wise.

-Bread assists the plaintiff with his lawsuits.

-Bread allows the students to learn Torah and then teach it.

-It makes anyone’s words worth hearing.

-Learning is recalled through the medium of bread.

-After eating bread one’s vitals are refreshed.

-Love is retained and evil thoughts are banished with bread.

-Bread eradicates disease

and drives away envy.

-It enables love to enter the soul.

Talmud quoted by Michael J Katz in Night Tales of the Shammes

This is all possible when not taking it for granted, for ourselves or others.

Building

2011-12-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

“I recently came across a whimsical anecdote based on the fantasy of a contemporary rabbi. He dreamed that Hell had burned down and was utterly consumed.

"The Celestial Council met in urgent session to decide on a course of action. There was, of course, the logistical suggestion that another Hell be built. But one of the angels disagreed. “As long as there was an Eternal Inferno, it had to be, but it is not right to build a new one.”

“But,” said Satan, “we must have a Hell for those who deserve it. We would undermine the principles of justice otherwise.”

"Both protagonists found some support within the Council. Neither side would yield and an impasse was reached. Finally, one of the wisest of the group proposed a compromise. He pointed out another related problem. Paradise was decrepit and badly in need of repair. A committee had already =begun plans for a modernized facility. Therefore, let the old Paradise become the new Hell.

"The suggestion was unanimously accepted since no one objected to the building of a new Paradise. Heaven found the answer to its own vexing problem.”

-Rabbi Irwin Groner

All building projects are difficult, even the unearthly sort.

Free

2011-12-20T15:30:00.001-05:00

Many stories and jokes came out the Soviet era communist state. Each tells of the life and frustration of the people. Invariably, they tell the story of a people’s angst and inability to be free.

Here is one:

A drunk ran into Red Square and screamed, “Brezhnev is a durak [fool]!”

The KGB hauled him away. He was brought to court and given a s sentence of twenty years and twenty days: twenty days for drunkenness and disturbing the peace and twenty years for revealing a state secret.”

-Newsweek November 1982

One of the critical aspects of life is freedom to act, speak and live.

Live When?

2011-12-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

The Kelmer Maggid interpreted a quotation from Psalms for his followers:

“Oh Lord! Break the teeth of the those who practice evil!”

“Why the teeth?” asked the Maggid.

"When a sinner dies and enters into the next universe, he arrives clean shaven. Immediately he is asked, “Sinner, where is your beard?”

“I was born without a beard,” he replies.

“You were also born without teeth, still you have them with you here.”

“So,” said the Maggid, “They knock his teeth out.”

We never just love for this day. We live for tomorrow. We live for next week. We live for the next life. It is not just this moment that we consider.

Choice

2011-12-11T21:12:00.000-05:00

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s own way.”

-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

So long as we breathe we have a choice. No one can force us to act of feel anything unless we agree.

Choices

2011-12-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

“An old man sat at a crossroads. A passerby approached and asked him how to get to the city. The old man replied, “Both ways lead to the same destination. That way,” he pointed, “begins in briars but ends in a smooth path. The other way begins in smooth path but ends in briars. Now choose.”

“So it is with us: there are some who only know peace but will come to pain in the end. Others suffer now but their end is comfort.” - Sifre D'varim, Re'eh 53

LIfe is not immediate. It is about the long run. We must always opt for the right choice for God's sake, and ours.

Funny Business

2011-12-11T17:09:00.000-05:00

A developer wanted to buy a farmer’s field to put up condominiums. “What will you pay?” asked the farmer.

The developer said, “We want to do the right thing. We will pay you what the field is worth.”

The farmer replied, “I’ll be darned if I’ll sell it for that!”

Would this conversation ever take place if people acted with integrity? Spoke the truth? If not, perhaps we have a head-start on living the best life possible.

Advice to Parents and Children

2011-12-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Advice to parents and a reminder to children:

Once I asked my mother why there is a Mother’s Day, a Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, but no Children’s Day.

She replied that every day is Children’s Day.

Words

2011-12-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

“Writing is one of the easiest things but erasing is one of the most difficult.” – Rabbi Israel Salanter

It is hard, maybe difficult, or perhaps impossible to totally erase what has been written or spoken. Even you burn all copies someone will remember what was written. Even if you apologize, people do not forget.

Moral?

Alive

2011-12-07T22:14:00.000-05:00

“Someone interviewed me recently and wanted to know if I saved ideas so that I could be assured of at least one column a week.

“I don’t save anything so that pockets are empty at the end of the week. So is my refrigerator, so is my gas tank, so is my file of ideas. I tried out the best lines on God and come the next week I bargain, whimper, make promises, cower and throw myself on the mercy of the Almighty for just three more columns in exchange for cleaning my oven.

“I don’t get to this point overnight. I come from a family of savers who were sired by poverty, raised in the Depression, worshiped on the altar of self-denial.

“Throughout the years I have seen a fair number of my family who have died leaving candles that have never been lit, appliances that never got out of the box, wines that were saved for something special, and new sofas shrouded in chenille bedspreads. It gets to be a habit; after a while you have dreams that you hide away for the days when you have time, you have nice compliments that you put aside until the right moment, you squirrel away plans to take a trip when all of you can get away, you have old grudges that you are going to settle when you get around to it.

“I had a relative who for years entertained in her basement. I once described her décor as “early hot-water heater.” We sat on glider swings and drank from plastic as we surveyed the room around us: a workbench, outdoor tables, mismatched lamps and stationary pubs. Upstairs was a perfectly beautiful living room…that was misnamed.

“I used to call her and say, “Let’s go for lunch today. We’ll eat something fattening and talk about everyone who isn’t there. She always hesitated and said, “Let’s plan it. We’ll have all week to look forward to it.” Usually by the time it rolled around, one of us couldn’t go.”

-Irma Bombeck

Are you alive?

Children

2011-12-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

Emmanuel Ringleblum was a chronicler of the doomed Warsaw Ghetto. In one entry he told of a child who tried to collect an extra lunch at a public “soup” kitchen. “When discovered, the child begged with tears in his eyes to be allowed to have two lunches, because he did not want to die like his little sister.”

Can anyone say the words “not on my watch” without cringing?

Children

2011-12-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

Starting out in life with someone who believes in you is a good start.

A Jewish mother took her two little children out for a walk.

“How nice your kids!” said a neighbor. “How old are they?”

“The doctor will be four and the lawyer is two,” said the mother.

Children

2011-12-06T22:57:00.002-05:00

A poor man had five children when his wife bore twins. The priest met him on the street and said, “I see that the Lord has smiled on you again.”

“Smiled?! He laughed right out loud.”

There is always more than one way to view a situation.

Changes

2011-12-04T23:32:00.000-05:00

The Hoover Institution announced that the communist parties of the world lost eight million members….mostly without loss of life. It was the largest drop in the world’s communist population since Joseph Stalin’s purges. - R. Emmett Tyrell Jr., The American Spectator

What once was thought to be a permanent foe has now deflated to the point where they are hardly recognizable. What does this say about what we invest our energies into?

Change

2011-12-04T23:18:00.000-05:00

Le plus change

Le plus c’est la meme change. – French saying

Changes

2011-12-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we must admit we cannot change another, even someone we love. What do we do then? Only one thing: change yourself.

“There was a lady who said my husband is the most brilliant man in the world. Albert Einstein, I am told, had only four people in the world that could understand him. My husband,” she said, “Nobody can understand.” – Harold Kushner

Shocking Change

2011-12-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

"Man has a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock." -Alvin Toffler

There are two different modalities of change. The first is internal and the second is external. Toffler writes about the second.
The remaining question is highly personal: What is my capacity to change? Can I? Do I? Have I grown brittle with years? Or am I open?

Thank You

2011-12-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

"We give thanks to You, Lord, our God, because we are able to give thanks." – Sotah 40a

Charity

2011-12-03T20:43:00.000-05:00

Mendel Berger was a dealer in remnant materials. Two weeks prior to Passover, his poor uncle approached him and said, “Dear nephew, every year at this time you give me material for a garment without charge. This year, however, my conditions are better and I want to purchase the cloth.”

Berger allowed his relative to select whatever he wanted and charged him a minimal price. The uncle left very pleased and promised to pay in a few days.

“Why do you sigh, Mendel?” his wife asked. “You should be content that he is going to pay this time.”

“On the contrary,” Mendel replied. “When my uncle was poor, I used to give him material without money. It was usually something that was difficult for me to sell. In this way, I performed a good deed and it did not cost me much. Now when he came to purchase some material for money, I had to let him choose the finest piece of cloth at less than my cost. I doubt he will remember to pay for it. Therefore, my wife, you see why I am sad. Not have I only not performed a good deed but I stand to have a loss.”

Moral: Many would rather swindle than give charity. Do not be among them.

Character

2011-12-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

Maybe this advice is the best dispensed human prescription on how to treat one another.

Henry Pachter once went to visit the famous physicist, Albert Einstein. Mrs. Einstein opened the door and called out behind her, “Albert, an autograph!”

The professor was at the time reviled by reactionaries who complained that Einstein was “relativizing everything.” Einstein materialized briefly to hand the student a piece of paper with his signature and the following advice: “Goodness and strong character are better than intelligence and learning.”

- Henry Pachter, Weimar Studies

Voice Yourself

2011-12-03T20:39:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Arnold Fischel went from New York to Washington in December 1861 to petition the president on having Jewish chaplains for the armed forces of the United States. Congress has just passed a law limiting chaplains to ministers of Christian denominations.

After the meeting, Mr. Lincoln sent on to Congress a new proposal for an amended law.

It passed on July 17, 1862. Two months later the first Jewish chaplain went into the service.

What is the moral? Change only happens when you raise your voice. Keep silent and you assent to the status quo.

Possible Love

2011-12-03T20:29:00.000-05:00

“Unless we are willing to change, the possibility of sustaining a long-lasting relationship is slim. When two comparative strangers make a commitment to unite, each brings a unique history, beliefs and habits. Some will be highly incompatible. If the relationship is to survive, it will mean what we will have to compromise, adjust and be flexible.

One way to accomplish this is to listen to ourselves more often; listen to all our dead-end statements: “Well, that’s just the way I am,” “I’m too old to change,” “There is nothing I can do about it,” “I can’t,” “I won’t,” “It’s not my problem.” Linguists tell us that the danger of using such language is that we become what we say we are and do only what we believe we can.” – Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love

Changes

2011-12-02T16:36:00.000-05:00

Senator Edward Kennedy distanced himself from earlier liberalist policies in 1985 after an overwhelming defeat by Walter Mondale. As Kennedy moved, he had the opportunity to debate with e Republican senator during a committee hearing. He remarked after a series of testy exchanges, “You know, I liked you a lot better before I moved to the right.”

Hopefully, we are always in a state of flux, movement toward becoming whole of course, the problem with change is that others do not change at all, or at the same rate.

Change

2011-12-02T16:05:00.000-05:00

George Bernard Shaw said that the smartest man he ever met was his tailor. Whenever he would visit him, the tailor would always measure him anew, never assuming he was the same size, recognizing that there stood before him a new man.

Isn’t this the goal of life? It is not enough to stay alive, one must be in a continual state of renewal. And expect the same of others.

Coursing the Pain

2011-12-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

Trust the energy. Trust even your pain. Not only is it real but it is a crossroads toward the light.

“One thing that comes out in myths is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.” – Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Selfhood

2011-12-01T22:23:00.000-05:00

“First become a blessing to yourself that you may be a blessing to others.” – Samson Raphael Hirsch