A Soulful Journey

This sad tale was told to me by one of our patients at the St. Albans VA Medical Center. It happened to a cousin of his.       The guy was of draft age in the middle of WWII. He watched as all of his friends around him got drafted.   But he was still sitting at home, waiting.       Finally, after six months, curiosity got the best of him. He visited his Draft Board to inquire about his status.       A Board clerk told him to wait a while. After 15 minutes, she returned. "Please stay a little longer. We're having some trouble locating your file."       Finally, after two hours, his name was called. This time, the clerk blandly stated, "Your file was accidentally misplaced. We just found it in the Deceased Filing Cabinet. You will be drafted at once. You have two weeks to settle your affairs."       After those two weeks, the cousin, now a private in the Army, underwent four months of intensi...

Rabbi Hanina once saw the people of his town bringing a variety of offerings and gifts to Jerusalem. He said, “Everyone is taking gifts and offerings up to Jerusalem and I and taking nothing.”  So Rabbi Hanina went to the outskirts of town and found a beautiful stone.  He cut it, shaped it, and polished it so I was truly a sight to behold. He then declared, “I hereby promise to take this up to Jerusalem.” But the stone was too heavy for him to carry on his own. So he tried to find workers to carry it. He found five workers. He asked, “Will you take this stone up to Jerusalem?”   They answered, “If you will pay us, we will take it up to Jerusalem for you.”  When he discovered that he had no money with him, the workers left.  God, observing the predicament in which Rabbi Hanina found himself, arranged for five angels in human form to appear when they appeared, Hanina asked, “Will you take the stone for me?”  They responded,...

When our son Larry was born, I was forewarned by my family and friends that my 3-ear old daughter, Claudia, could become jealous.   After several months however, Claudia seemed to adore her younger brother.   But one day I glanced at the crib and was horrified to see an ink line drawn down the center of Larry’s nose and little squiggles all over his cheeks.   Claudia does resent the baby, I thought.   I’ll have to handle this calmly so as not to add to her negative feelings.   Very casually I asked my daughter why she had written all over her brother. Claudia looked at the baby, then at me, and replied, matter-of-factly, “I didn’t have any paper.” Don't get angry.  First look, see and ask.  Then think.

Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in physics, was once asked:  "Why did you become a scientist?"  He responded, "My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it.  Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school:  'Nu?  Did you learn anything today?'   But not my mother.  She always asked me a different question.  'Izzy, '  she would say, 'did you ask a good question today?'   That difference--asking good questions--made me become a scientist."   - Donald Sheff, letter to the New York Times, January 19, 1988 Whether it is  Passover or Wednesday we are continually urged to wonder about life.  That begins with a question.

The question is always asked, ‘Why does a Jew always answer a question with a question?'  The answer: ‘Why not?’    - Louis Jacobs An inquiring mind always wants more.

“Your cravings as a human animal do not become pagan just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.”  -Dag Hammarskjold

  Did it ever happen that what you heard was not what you were told?  And what you said was not what was understood? That is why it is always good to ask questions.  That way you get the message.   Questions also establish interest. It shows that we care enough to investigate. A grandmother took her grandson to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.  She showed him many parts of the magnificent structure.  Finally, they came to the altar. “Under here.” She pointed, “is where all the cardinals are buried." ”The boy looked on in amazement and asked, “You mean the whole team?” Always ask.  It is the way of truth.  It is the way of Torah.