A Soulful Journey

Stevie Morris was asked by his teacher to find the elusive mouse hiding in her  classroom.  No one else could find the little creature but this child was special and the teacher knew it.  His keen sense of hearing compensated for his blindness.  She appreciated his gift and let him know that he was special. Years later, after he changed his name to Steve Wonder, he never forgot how this one teacher in urban Detroit was the start of his new life of creating music. -Paul Harvey How wonderful this life would be if everyone was told how special they are.

Rabbi Yisrael Salanter once noticed that a fancy restaurant was charging a huge price for a cup of coffee. He approached the owner and asked why the coffee was so expensive. After all, some hot water, a few coffee beans and a spoonful of sugar could not amount to more than a few cents. The owner replied: "It is correct that for a few cents you could have coffee in your own home. But here in the restaurant, we provide exquisite decor, soft background music, professional waiters, and the finest china to serve your cup of coffee." Rabbi Salanter's face lit up. "Oh, thank you very much! I now understand the blessing of  Shehakol  -- 'All was created by God’s word' -- which we recite before drinking water. You see, until now, when I recited this blessing, I had in mind only that I am thanking the Creator for the water that God created. Now I understand the blessing much better. 'All' includes not merely the water, but also the fresh air that we breathe whi...

On one occasion President Harry Truman was asked to speak at a fundraising project to help the children of the White House guard who was slain in the line of duty. With great feeling he said, “You can't imagine just how a man feels when someone else dies for him!” King David must have had a similar feeling for the three mighty men who were so loyal to him. When he expressed a longing for a drink from the well of Bethlehem, three soldiers voluntarily broke through the Philistine lines and secured it for him. David was so moved by their courage that he wouldn’t drink even one drop of that precious liquid. Instead, he poured it out as a libation to God saying: “Can I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” To him their act was as noble as if they had died for him.  - Rabbi Gary Greene   The men and women who defend us at the risk of their lives every day- whether soldiers, police, medical personnel or the person who stops at the roadside to ask if you are...

“Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” – Albert Schweitzer

 An anti-Semitic minister asked Rabbi Yonah of Prague: "Why are you Jews so proud?  It seems that you will only ride on horses whereas your ancestors used to ride on donkeys.  Even Moses, his wife and children, rode on donkeys. Even your messiah will come riding on a donkey." "It is not because we are proud," the Gaon answered, "but because donkeys think they have made progress and act important, so we have to ride on horses." In our times, as in days of old, it is vital to think of each person as a universe, loved by God, and needed to complete the world in his or her own fashion.  Discrimination brings us all down, reduces the world to small bytes of toxic energy.  Instead let us lift up one another as necessary for a fully functioning world that does not tolerate differences but elevates them.

  Five dollars was a matter of tremendous importance in out household on the Lower East Side of New York.  There were not many five dollar bills for use at any one time. I was a kid of about 10 or 11 and I lost a five dollar bill. My mother gave it to me to buy something and I lost it. I don’t know how, but I lost it and that’s all. I sat in the park most of the day afraid to go home.  I walked the streets. Wherever I went I kept looking for that five dollar bill. I knew that this was foolish, but I was frantic. I kept thinking that maybe I could find another five dollar bill to replace the one I lost. Finally it was dark, and I just had to go home. I hardly knew where or how to begin.  What could I say? But I have to say. I told my mother that I had lost the money.  She grabbed me tight and seemed to be as happy as could be and kept repeating in Yiddish over and over again, “It’s better than giving it to a doctor.”   -Harry Golden...

A small group of musicians passed through city and played a few pieces of beautiful music in a place that was equal distance from the homes of two wealthy individuals in the city. These two individuals got into a heated argument about whom the musicians were playing for. Each one claimed that the musicians were playing for him and not for the other guy.  Not being able to resolve the matter, they went off to the local sage, Rabbi Yezekiel Landau, for his judgment in this matter. Each presented his case and then, as customary, each gave the Rabbi and an equal but significant donation in appreciation for the time that was made available for them. They eagerly weighted the verdict, each one sure of his position.  The Rabbi mulled this over and finally called them in. He said, “I have come to a conclusion, after the largesse which you have bestowed upon me, that the musicians were not playing for either of you; they were actually playing for me!”

In 1965 Green Bay Packers Quarterback Bart Starr used to give his son ten cents for every perfect paper he wrote in school.  After a particularly bad game Bart went home to rest and decompress.  There, attached to his pillow was a note,  "Dear dad, I though you played a great game. Love, Bart jr. Taped to the note were two dimes.

Wife: You don't bring me candy any more, as you did before we were married. Husband: Did you ever see anyone continue to feed worms to a fish after it is caught? Who is right? Both are wrong. Expectations lead invariably to disappointment. Taking loves ones for granted is wrong.

Anatole Broyard was the editor of the New York Times Book Review. When his doctor diagnosed prostate cancer, he wrote: “When you learn that your life is threatened, you can turn toward this knowledge or away from it.  I turned toward it. ... It sounds trite, yet I can only say then I realized the first time that I didn’t have forever. … Nothing was casual anymore… I understood that living itself had a deadline. How can you not be curious about the world? The street, houses, trees, shops, and movement and the stillness. When my wife media hamburger the other day, I thought it was the most fabulous hamburger in the world! This is how life ought to be without the threat of death hanging over us.

"I, who am blind, can give but one hint to those who can see. One admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: use your eyes is if you would be stricken blind! And the same method could be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of orchestra as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object as though tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you would never smell, or taste again. Make the most of every sense, glory in all the facets of pleasure or beauty which the world reveals to you…"   -Helen Keller

There is a legend about an old fisherman who lived on a  riverbank.  Walking home after hard day's work, he dreamed of what he would do when he became a rich man.  Suddenly his foot struck against a leather pouch filled with small stones. Absentmindedly, he picked it up and begin tossing the pebbles into the water. 'When I am rich,' he said to himself, 'I will have a large house.' He threw another stone into the river. As he threw another stone he thought, 'My wife will have service, wine and rich food.' This went on until he had only one stone left. As he held it in his hand, a ray of light caught it and made it sparkle. A diamond. He had been throwing away the real riches that rested in his hand while dreaming of unreal riches in the future.  - Rabbi Kassel Abelson What is in your hand?

It is related that once a gentile put the question to Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai.  “We have festivals and you have festivals. We have Calends, Saturnalia and Kratesis, and you have Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Which is the day whereon on we and you have festivals and rejoice alike?” Rabbi Yohanan replied.  “It is the day when the rain falls. For it is said, “The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered with corn. They should shout for joy, they sing. What follows? The Psalm, “Shout unto God all the earth.”   -Rabbi Jacob Chinitz That which every human being possesses is a capacity for appreciation.  This is a gift from us to every person.

Anatole Broyard, the former editor of the New York Times Book Review, wrote after his doctor diagnosed him with prostate cancer, " When you learn that your life is threatened, you can turn toward this knowledge or away from it.  It turned toward it...it sounds trite, yet I can only say that I realized for the first time that I don't have forever...nothing was casual anymore.  I understood that living itself has a deadline.  How can you not be curious about the world?  The streets, the houses, the trees, the shops, the movement and the stillness...When my wife made me me a hamburger the other day, I thought it was the most fabulous hamburger in the history of the world."

“Do not throw a stone into a well that God gave you to quench your thirst.”   -Baba Kama 92b To see the world was a gift is to live a meaningful life.

“…the Rabbis condemned ingratitude and disloyalty as the basest of vices.   The ingrate, they assert, will eventually fall into atheism, forfeiting the benefits bestowed upon him by his Maker.   The lowest degree of ingratitude is the betrayal of confidence.”   - "Israel: Its Role in Civilization" The task of life is to live a life of integrity.  That means learning to feel, "thank you."

Rav Judah said in the name of Samuel: To enjoy anything of the world without [reciting] a blessing is like making personal use of things consecrated to heaven, since it says: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”  (Psalm 24:1) Talmud, Berachot 35a

Pssst.  Pass it on.  Here is the great secret of life.  It has the power to make us whole.  Here it is: "Ingratitude to man is ingratitude to God."   –  Shmuel HaNagid

A teacher visited a father to talk about his child. “I am not a novice,” the teacher began. “I’ve been at this profession for twenty-five years.” “You don’t look it.” "What do you mean?” the teacher asked. “You look healthy. Among Jews it is a known fact that after teaching for a few years brings on a weak heart or TB.” One of the most unfortunate things is life is when those who educate are under-appreciated. According to Torah and the great Sages of the past, teachers are to be revered on a par with parents! Even today it is customary to stand when a teacher enters into a room at yeshiva.

“We do not appreciate what we receive, we appreciate what we share.”   - Harold Kushner