A Soulful Journey

  Rabbi Levi Yitschak of Berdichev stood before the Holy Ark of the great day, Yom Kippur.  He cried out, “Lord, You forbade us to write anything on the Holy Days.  The only exception is to save a life.  Therefore, O Master, even You are bound by the Law of not writing – except to save us by inscribing our names in the Book of Life.” Life often seems like a contest to see who gets the prize for longevity, or amasses the most money, who becomes the most prolific writer, or any number of infinite things when we measure ourselves against other people.   “If someone loses, we win” goes the general attitude. A religious mindset is one that does not pit us against one another but one that cheers on our neighbor.  We root for other to cross the finish line alongside us.  Life is not a contest of “us versus them” but a journey where when one succeeds we all do better.

  "Cry from the heart and you will find true guidance. You must cry out to God from the very depths of your heart. The darkness will crack and deep counsel will be revealed. Through this yo ur faith will be strengthened. " - Rebbe Nachman

  A decade after the genocide, Rev. Cecil Murray was in Rwanda with researchers from the center I direct at USC. He visited a Christian organization serving women survivors of the genocide – most lost their whole families and endured horrific sexual violence. Many were dying of AIDS. Some were mothers whose only living children were born of rape. During a healing service there, the president hears that Rev. Murray is a pastor and professor. He asks him to address the group. Rev. Murray obliges and walks to the front of the room. He takes out a newish, pink Rwandan Franc. He holds it between his two hands and asks, “how much is this worth?” The women pause with looks of puzzlement. After all, they were told he was a religious leader of great esteem in the U.S., yet he asking them a plainly obvious question. They indulge him and reply, “5,000 francs.” He holds it in his hands and then dramatically crumples it, stomps on it, and dirties it on the floor. He even tears the corner and spits

 "There are worse things than death--- you understand what I mean if you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman." - Woody Allen

  "R emember: Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital. "   ~  Rebbe  Nachman

  " You are never given an obstacle you cannot overcome."   - Rebbe Nachman

  “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A young widow once came crying to him. “I recently lost my husband. Now my young child, my only child, is lying gravely ill. The doctors have given up hope. Please, Baal Shem Tov, please do something to save my child.”   The Baal Shem Tov, whose heart was always open especially to the needy and oppressed, soothed and reassured her saying that she should go home and her child will be fine. He then proceeded to gather together ten (a  minyan ) of his holy hidden Tzaddikim, to pray for the child’s welfare and immediate healing.   But to no avail. As much as they tried opening their souls and in turn opening the gates of heaven, they sadly had no success. The Baal Shem Tov sensed that the decree in heaven was sealed and could not be reversed by the Tzaddikim’s prayers.   The Baal Shem Tov, however, was not one to take no for an answer and give up. He feel upon an idea. He asked his wagon driver to prepare the wagon and the horses. They were going for a trip to the forest. He directed the

  “Shall we receive good from God and not evil?”   ~ Job 2:10 Job suffered greatly.  His losses were so many that even his closest friends edged away from him.  Yet, Job does not give up.  He strove to glean meaning from his pain. Life does not always proceed in the way we would like it to go.  It often veers sharply to the right or left.  Our will is not enough to keep it going straight (perhaps we would not want it to be so either…wouldn’t life be boring?).  When life takes us in a direction we would rather not travel we are left with two essential choices: Deny what is happening.  Fight to regain control over the wheel.  Do everything in our power to resist change. Accept the change and adjust our life to the new reality. When bad things happen, as they will, we always have a choice.  We are never “stuck” unless we have made our minds to be so mired. One Hasidic master said, “The real exile of  Israel  in  Egypt  was when they learned to endure it.”   God is the force that challenge

  An interesting insight from the biblical commentator Rabbi Hayyim ibn Attar, a seventeenth century kabbalist from Morocco who settled in Eretz Yisrael.     His commentary,   Or Hayyim , questions why the Torah stressed the greatness of human wickedness on “earth.”     Where else does man behave wickedly, but on “earth”?     Or Hayyim responds in a non-literal way.     Rabbi Hayyim reminds us that people were created from the dust of earth.     - Rabbi Lionel Moses

"Because it has been a minority, Judaism has become a measuring test for the height to which morality has risen upon earth. What the Jewish community has experienced from the nations among which it lived, has always been the measure of the extent of right and justice among the nations. For all justice is justice for the few. When Israel can live securely among the nations, then the promised times have arrived, for then and thereby it will be proved that faith in God has become a living reality." Leo Baeck, 1874-1956

  The Baal Shem Tov and the Doctor by Doug Lipman Once, a famous doctor met one of his patients on the street. Without a word of greeting, the doctor said, "I told you not to walk on that leg until it heals!" "But it IS healed," said the man. "Impossible! I saw the wound in that leg. It will take months!" "I went to another kind of healer, doctor. I went to a mystical rabbi, the one they call the Baal Shem Tov." The doctor narrowed his eyes, then simply walked away. A week later, the doctor rapped loudly on the Baal Shem Tov's door. When the door opened, he said, "I hear you claim to be a healer!" The Baal Shem Tov looked at his visitor. "God is the healer, my friend. Come in!" The doctor did not move. "Let us examine each other," he said. "Whoever best diagnoses the sickness of the other will be proved the better doctor." The Baal Shem Tov smiled. "As you wish. But please do me the favor of coming