A Soulful Journey

One Yom Kippur the rabbi was warning his congregation about the fragility of life.  “One day everyone in this congregation is going to die,” he thundered from the bima.  Seated in the front row was a little old Jewish Grandmother who laughed out loud, when she heard this.  Irritated the Rabbi said, “What’s so funny?”  “Well!” said the Grandmother, “I’m not a member of this congregation.”   -Rabbi Dan Moskowitz It is good to laugh, especially because we are all mortal.

 "Nearly two centuries ago the German philosopher Immanuel Kant predicted that eventually world order would come about either through intellectual and moral insight or through the experience of chaos.  We are still in a position to make that choice."  -Henry Kissinger As we read God making order from chaos in the process of creation we would do well to remember that we can follow His example.

"Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything  That's how the light gets in."   -Leonard Cohen This is to be human, to have foibles and darkness because that is how the light gains entry.

 Reb Zemele, while sitting with his Hasidim, joking said, "When a Jew has finished his prayers, one should greet him with 'Shalom Aleichem'." "Why?" the Hasidim asked. "Because I am sure there is not a spot on earth to which he did not wander, while standing in prayer." Prayer is not easy. It takes desire, focus and concentration.  And patience.

The reason the New York Yankees wear pinstripes is because the owner many decades ago thought it made Babe Ruth look thinner. We often cater with almost an absence to those whom we venerate.  We are all equal.

Isaac Asimov wrote in "The Last Question:" A group of scientists created an AI system and asked it, "Is there a god?"  The AI spit out an answer, "Insufficient computing power to determine an answer."  They add more computing power toad ask again, "Is there a god?"  The y get the same answer.  Then they redouble their efforts and spend years and years improving the AI's capacity.  Then they asked again, "Is there a god?"  The AI responded, "There is now." I n 1977 when Apple unveiled its logo it referenced the Garden of Eden by using the apple as a symbol of the network of power. "You shall have no other gods before Me."  -Ten Commandments 

A certain bishop was scheduled to speak at a Town Hall in Philadelphia. He set out to walk but quickly became disoriented and lost.  So he asked a little boy how to find the Town Hall.  The boy asked, “What are you going to do there?  “I am going to give a lecture,” he answered.  “About what?”  “About how to get to Heaven.  Do you want to come?’  “Are you kidding?” said the boy.  “You don’t even know how to get to the Town Hall!”   Torah.  Keep  the map close.  It is your pathway to never become lost or  misdirected.

When Abraham passed from this world he was eulogized, “Woe to the ship that has lost its captain.”    (Talmud, Baba Batra 91b) Yet, he is not gone if we continue to learn from his ways, study the Torah and grow.  Then the ship, our ship, will always have its captain.

"A well-known humorist once observed, "There are two  kinds of people: those who keep diaries and those who do not.  The former write of things they hope to do or imagine they have done; the latter are too busy living."  - Rabbi Hillel Silverman While Silverman wrote this many decades ago it is more apropos of today's environment with numerous v internet platforms where people monitor, document and describe their every move. Live today.

According to the Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah , the etrog, hadas, and aravah symbolize the three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The single Lulav symbolizes God. By holding the three against the Lulav, we act out our hope that the sacred deeds of our ancestors, the lessons learned throughout our lengthy history, will serve us well before God. Thus, lulav and etrog demonstrate our link to Jewish history throughout time.  - Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson

Professor Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. Kaplan taught homiletics (the art of sermons) at the Jewish Theological Seminary. One day a young rabbinical student delivered a sermon to the class, and Kaplan said, “Very nice.” The student was relieved until he came back to class a week later. Kaplan harshly criticized the sermon. “But last week you liked it,” said the student. Kaplan replied, “I’ve changed since then.”  - Michael Gold Wisdom is the ability to change.

Mrs. Goldberg called the Elmans and asked Rachel if she was available the next night. When Rachel responded she was free, Mrs. Goldberg thanked her and told her it was very important and she should arrive promptly at 7:45 the next evening. Tuesday night arrived and Mrs. Goldberg waited at the window at 7:45. She did not see or hear from the babysitter.  She waited a bit longer and tried calling Rachel but the line was busy.   By 8 o’clock she became angry. She started expressing her views about Rachel and their family in general.  “How could a girl be so irresponsible? I always had my doubts about them.” At 8:02 there was a knock on the door. She opened it expectantly only to find her husband. She became even more angry. At 8:05 she you again try to call Rachel and this time her mother picked up the phone. Furious, Mrs. Goldberg asked to speak with Rachel. ”Oh are you the one Rachel was supposed to babysit for?” Mrs. Elman asked.  “You hung up before you told Rachel your name.”   Thoug

At the Boulder Dam, eighty-nine men died building that structure.  There, an inscription reads: "For those who died that the desert might bloom."   May it be said of us when we have passed from the world that it is a brighter place because we worked to make it so.

Zebra Question – Shel Silverstein I asked the zebra Are you black with white stripes? Or white with black stripes? And the zebra asked me, Or you good with bad habits? Or are you bad with good habits? Are you noisy with quiet times? Or are you quiet with noisy times? Are you happy with some sad days? Or are you sad with some happy days? Are you neat with some sloppy ways? Or are you sloppy with some neat ways? And on and on and on and on And on and on he went. I’ll never ask a zebra About stripes Again.

Apologies I was a junior officer aboard USS Wahoo (SS-565)  o n completion of a six week period in Pearl Harbor shipyard. We were preparing to do a post-upkeep shakedown, or rather harbor cruise, to check out our propulsion system and new battery. All that was planned was a short transit around Ford Island and a return to the shipyard. The day before our harbor trials the captain received a phone call from the shipyard commander. He stated that there was a captain from the Japanese Navy in Hawaii studying shipyard techniques. He wondered if it would be possible for that officer to accompany Wahoo on her short trip around Pearl Harbor. Our captain agreed it would be perfectly fine and he was invited aboard the next day.   Some background information. In 1961 the Arizona Memorial, as we now know it, have not been built. Rather there was a small wooden platform attached to a flag pole, which was attached to the sunken hull of the Arizona . Each morning several Marines would ro w  a small

Dr. Louis Finkelstein was one of the greatest Judaic scholars of the 20th century and was the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological SEminary from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. This is a story about Dr. Finkelstein’s father, who was the rabbi of a synagogue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.  It happened that in that congregation, as it sometimes does, (may God protect us from it ever happening here) that the Rabbi and the Hazzan quarreled.  The congregation took sides, and the quarrel escalated until finally the congregation decided that both of them, the Rabbi and the Hazzan, had to leave. Years later, their Dr. Finkelstein’s found himself the Rabbi of another congregation, and much to his surprise, he found that Hazzan a member of the synagogue.  For years, the rabbi would walk from his seat to the middle of the room where the speaker's stand was in order to give his sermon every week. On the way he would have to pass the seat of the former Hazzan, and the two of them would ignor

"But through the wound in my chest God peeks into the world   I am the door of God’s dwelling."   --Yehuda Amichai

  "When a blind man was asked by a sympathetic woman, "Doesn't being blind rather color your life?" he answered, "Yes, but Thank God. I can choose the color."   Rabbi Sidney Greenberg We are all blind in some fashion, we see the world not as it is but as we want to perceive it.   Don't like the view?  Change the way you see it. 

 "If people do not plow in summer, what will they eat in winter?"  - Midrash Mishlay 6 Think. Prepare. Save.

"Do not believe the absurd ideas of astrologers, who falsely assert that the constellation at the time of one's birth determines whether one is to be virtuous or vicious, the individual being thus necessarily compelled to follow out a certain line of conduct."  - Rambam Trust God alone.  And you are in charge of you, and responsible for your actions.

A Hasidic man, with a long beard, payis (earlocks), a kaftan (a long black coat), and shtreiml  (the traditional fur hat worn by Chassidic Jews), walks into a bar with a multi-colored parrot  on his shoulder. The bartender says: "Where'd you get that?" The parrot  replies: "Brooklyn.  There's thousands of them."  

W. Somerset Maugham tells the story of a servant in Baghdad who sees the Angel of Death in the marketplace. Frightened, he runs home to his master. “I have seen the Angel of Death in the bazaar!!” he exclaimed.  “I must flee to Samarra where he cannot find me.”  And he packed his belongs and left. That afternoon, the master went to the bazaar and there he the Angel of Death. “Why did you frighten and threaten my servant this morning? he asked. “Oh no!” replied the Angel of Death.  “I was just surprised.  I was amazed to find him in Baghdad for I have an appointment with him tomorrow in Samarra."   Fate always has the final word.