A Soulful Journey

“The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear any more – except his God.”   Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

“If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering.   Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death.   Without suffering and death life cannot be complete.”   -Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Pain has a purpose.

When asked by reporters how he preferred to be addressed, Henry Kissinger replied, “I don’t stand on protocol.   If you will just call me “Excellency” it will be okay.” In these days when politics seems motivated by personal advancement and squelching one's opponents it is a sign of maturity to hold a sense of humor and remember that nothing lasts.  All is ephemeral.  So smile.

A man died and went to heaven. It was determined through his deeds that he belonged in hell but the choice was not an easy one for there are two kinds of hell, a Jewish one and a Gentile one. In the Gentile hell you going to boiling water from 9 AM to 5 PM and the rest of the day you can watch TV or do anything you like.     In the Jewish hell you go into a vat of boiling water remain there until 5 PM. The rest of the day can be spent relaxing. The man said, “I will take the Jewish one.” ”Why?” asked the attendant. “They are both the same.” The man answered, “You do not know.    The Jewish one, nine is not really nine and five is not five.   And the water is not really boiling.” Everything is Relative.

The New York Times interviewed Professor Saul Lieberman after a recent book he wrote was published. The reporter came up to his office and looked around. He pointed to some of the books lining his shelves. ”What is this?” he asked. ”The Bible.” ”What is this?”   “The Mishna”. ”What is that?” ”It is a commentary and expansion of the biblical laws.” “What’s this?” “The Gemara.” ”And what is that?” “It a commentary and expansion of the Mishna.” “What’s this?” he pointed.   “The Rambam”.   ”What is that?” “It fine tunes the Gemara.” And what is that? "Rashi....” “I see.  It is a conversation between the generations.” The conversation takes places over the millennia and still advances to this day.

Rabbi Bunim told the man the following story: Once, the holy   Baal Shem Tov   had to travel to a far-off destination on a matter of extreme importance to the welfare of a Jewish community. As was his custom on such trips, the Baal   Shem   Tov told his coachman, Alexis, to drop the reins and turn around in his bench. No sooner had the coachman turned his back on the horses that the road began to literally fly under their feet, and they traversed a many weeks' journey in a few hours. The horses, noticing that they were galloping past the feeding stations without stopping, thought to themselves: "Perhaps we are not horses after all, but human beings. Otherwise, why are we not being given oats and water at the customary places? Surely we will eat with the men, when they stop for their meals at the crossroads inns." But the inns, too, flew by, one after another, with dizzying speed. "It seems," the horses now surmised, "that we are not men after all, bu