A Soulful Journey

"Improve yourself before you go about improving others."  - Baba Metzia 107b It is easy criticize, far more difficult to be self-critical.

 "Desperate diseases require desperate remedies."  - English proverb And what disease is worse than afflicting another with hurtful words? We must summon all our strength to resist harming someone.

  Rabbi Nachman’s Prayer for Peace May it be Your will, Holy One, our God, our ancestors’ God, that you erase war and bloodshed from the world and in its place draw down a great and glorious peace so that nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more. Rather, may all the inhabitants of the earth recognize and deeply know this great truth: that we have not come into this world for strife and division nor for hatred and rage,  nor provocation and bloodshed. We have come here only to encounter You, eternally blessed One. And so, we ask your compassion upon us; raise up, by us, what is written: I shall place peace upon the earth and you shall lie down safe and undisturbed and I shall banish evil beasts from the earth and the sword shall not pass through your land. but let justice come in waves like water and righteousness flow like a river, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Holy One as the waters cover the sea. So may it be. And we sa

 "The unfortunate thing about constructive criticism is that nobody appreciates it as much as the one who's giving it." -unknown Perhaps then the right attitude is to consider the person at the receiving end before we consider our superiority in critiquing them.

"The authenticity of the scrolls is currently in great doubt, particularly since the word "Oldsmobile" appears several times in the text..."  - Woody Allen In our days, perhaps more than we have known in generations, we need to filter what we read and hear through the lens of fact-checking and healthy doubt.  It is a Jewish ideal that we question everything in the pursuit of truth.

  “Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before.”  - Joseph Campbell

  “People have disabilities. A handicap, on the other hand, is a disadvantage that makes achievement unusually difficult....  The person may have the disability but the environment produces the handicap.  A handicap is a societal burden, not necessarily related to a person’s physical or mental condition: a disability places an additional burden upon the individual but in no way diminishes that person’s potential – society does that.”     Harold E. Yoker   The Torah is transparent and revealing with all our fathers and mothers.  In every instance it details their disabilities from blindness to mental illness, to the incapacity to bear children….  And yet these are the people whom we venerate for their remarkable, unique abilities.

  “And the days drew near that Israel must die.”     (Genesis 47:29) Rabbi Hiyya said: Here in the mention of death, the name Israel is written while above, speaking of his life, it is written, “And Jacob lived…” (Genesis 47:28).  Why is this?  Rabbi Yossi replied, “Look at the word “days.”  Is this not strange as a person does not die on a day but rather in an instant?" The reason it reads like this is when God decides to receive a person’s spirit, soul, He reviews all the days in a man’s life in this world.  And happy is the one whose days draw near to pass before the King without blame…:   -Zohar  

 Deuteronomy beings with a commentary found in the midrash: "Do not read devarim (words) but d evorim (bees).  The words spoken by Moses sting like a wasp.  They hurt.  They cause pain to the person stung by them but also cause the death of the wasp in the process.  Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy. -Rabbi Harold Kushner Be very careful with how you speak to others. Their life and yours depends upon it.

In Moscow, G.B. Shaw met Lenin's widow, Krupshaysa.  He reported, "She had given the Soviets a piece of her mind so roundly that Stalin had threatened if she did it again he would appoint another widow for Lenin." It is not easy to accept criticism, but it makes us most human.

 A young poet came to a well-known critic with a book of poetry.  While listening to the poorly written verses, the critic dozed off.  The poet noticed and asked: "How can you pass an opinion on my writings when you are sleeping?" "To sleep is also an opinion," the critic replied. It is not easy to take criticism for what have have done but it is the path of growth.  Pay attention to what people say...and what they do not say.

Freud and Jung had a long correspondence.  Toward the end of their relationship, after they began scrutinizing, "every nuance of the other's behavior," they began to hate each other.  - Irving Yalom Real love is then we see the other's flaws and love them despite their shortcomings (or ours).

 "I feel dead.  I have become a broken vessel."   -Psalms 31:13 There are times in all our lives when we feel like this.  Our task is to learn the lessons of such dread and internal pain.  Ask, "What do You want me to learn from this, God?"

   After Jonas Salk (1914-1995), in 1955-56, began to administer his anti-polio vaccine (IPV), he was asked about  the development of his theory.     He explained, in an interview, "Oh, I first got the idea from a young rabbi in our synagogue when he taught us the the biblical law of  tzara'at  (leprosy) [Lev. 13-14]. And that started me thinking about polio."        The interviewer then followed with a reasonable inquiry. "Well, why didn't you acknowledge that when you were being considered for the Nobel Prize for Medicine?"        Salk shrugged. "You have to understand our rabbi. He's a very modest fellow. I offered to share the Prize with him--if I would eventually get it. But he refused."        To this day, the general public does not know about this rabbi's important contribution to modern medicine.                - Rabbi Murray Stadtmauer

  When tomorrow starts without me, And I’m not here to see, If the sun should rise and find your eyes All filled with tears for me; I wish you wouldn’t cry  The Way you did today, While thinking of the many things. We did not get to say. I know how much you love me, As much as I love you, Each time that you think of me, I know you'll miss me too; But when tomorrow starts without me, Please try to understand, That an angel came and called my name, And took me by the hand, And said my place was ready, In heaven far above And that I'd have to leave behind All those I dearly love. But as I turned to walk away, A tear fell from my eye For all my life, I'd always thought, I didn't want to die. I had so much to live for, So much left to do, It seemed almost impossible  That I was leaving you. I thought of all the yesterdays, The good ones and the bad, The thought of all the love we shared, And all the fun we had. If I could relive yesterday  Just even for a little while, I'

 A non-Jew asked Rabbi Joshua ben Korcha, "Do you claim that God sees into the future?" "Yes," he answered. The man said, "But it is written in your Torah, 'And the Lord regretted that He made people on earth and His heart was saddened.'[Genesis 6:6].  If God knew beforehand that He was going to regret creating humankind, why did He do it?" Rabbi Joshua asked him, "Has a son ever been born to you?" "Yes," the man replied. "And what did you do when he was born?" He answered, "I rejoiced like everyone else joyous." The rabbi asked, "And did you know that some day the child would die?" He responded, "At the time when one should be joyous, be joyous.  And when it is time to mourn, mourn." The rabbi said, "So too, with the Holy One, blessed be He."  - Genesis Rabbah 27:4

  The President of Iran was sitting in his office when his telephone rang. “Salaam! Mr. President," a heavily accented voice said. "This is Moshe from a small town in Israel. I am ringing to inform you that our morning minyan is officially declaring war on you!” "Well, Moshe," the Iranian President replied, "This is indeed important news! Tell me, how big is your army?" "At this moment in time," said Moshe after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, my cousin Shlomy, my next door neighbor Yossi, and the entire 6:00 am morning minyan  — that makes 18!” The President sighed. "I must tell you Moshe that I have 1 million men in my army waiting to move on my command. If you attack, you’ll be dead the moment your foot touches Iranian territory.” "Oy vay!", said Moshe, "I'll have to ring you back!"  Sure enough, the next day Moshe rang back. "All Right Mr. President, the war is still on! We have managed to