A Soulful Journey

Rabbi Yochanan said: This may be compared to a traveler who was walking on the road at dawn when it was still dark. Someone came and lit a candle for him, but it went out. Then another person lit a candle for him, but it too went out. The traveler said: "From now on I will wait only for the morning light." So too, Israel said to the Holy One, blessed is He: "We made for You a menorah in the days of Moshe, but it went out. We made another menorah in the days of Shlomo Hamelech, but it went out. From now on we are waiting only for Your light, as it says (Psalms 36:10), "For with You is the source of life; by Your light do we see light." - Yalkut Shimoni 

I received gifts of books in the hospital and during my recuperation.  But I have come to learn what Buber concluded when he grew older.  When in his youth he was asked which he  preferred, Buber thought he preferred books to people.  Books are easy to handle, easy to open and to close, to remove or place back on the shelves.  Books are manna from heaven, while humans are like hard, brown bread on whose crust he breaks his teeth.  But as he grew older, Buber changed his mind. “I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books; I shall die with another human hand in my own.”  - Rabbi Harold Shulwies