Once when in the eighteenth century the Vilna Gaon was
teaching two pupils who were distracted, gazing at a bird soaring the sky. He asked one of them, “What were you thinking
as you watched the bird?”
“I was thinking of the soul ascending to heaven,” he
replied.
The Vilna Gaon was not a fan of mysticism so he sent him
away from the class.
The Gaon then turned to the second boy and repeated his
question. The boy considered and
answered, “If that bird dropped dead and fell between two fences who would own
the body?”
His teacher exclaimed, “God be praised! Someone knows what religion is about!”
-Lionel Blue
The basis of religion is faith but its import is action.
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