A Soulful Journey

Rabbi Yitzhak said, “A community leader must not be appointed unless the community has been consulted.”  -Berakhot 55a

When Thomas Jefferson wrote that governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, it was a simple and important act of the human spirit.     What gave meaning to that act, however, was the fact that the author backed it up with his life.” –Vaclav Havel

“The ultimate censorship is the flick of the dial.” – Tom Smothers We control ourselves.

"When there is   one verses many , the halacha goes according to the many."  (yachid v'rabim, halacha k'rabim)  - Yevamot 47 Law follows the majority, not the minority.

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”   - Winston Churchill  

“ In aristocracies…few words are coined because few new things are made…”   -Alexis deTocqueville

"When the great minds of the day seek to cater to the masses, the whole order collapses" (Dt. Rabbah, Ch 1; Yalkut Torah, Remez 802).     The Midrash then goes on to recount a fable about the quarrel of the snake's head and its tail. The tail complains, "Why should you always lead. Let me lead." The head shrugs. "Sure, go ahead. You lead." So the tail takes the lead and runs into rocks and thorn-bushes, bruising the entire body. Murray Stadtmauer

Hasidim are fond of telling this story: Once deep in the forest their leader, the Rebbe, came upon a beautiful palace. Through the gate in its high wall he saw that the windows shone with light  and sounds of feasting and joy could be heard from within. "How can I enter this palace?" The Rebbe asked the gatekeeper. "You may never enter. The palace has been forbidden to you." Despite these words, the Rebbe was drawn to the loveliness of the palace making an inner promise to remain by the gate. There he sat waiting, his heart full of sorrow and longing. Years passed. The Rebbe grew old and frail but the dream of entering the palace remained bright in his heart. One morning, the Rebbe looked up and saw that the ancient hinges of the great gate turning, turning, and the path to the palace was clear and the doors of the palace wide open. Joyful music was ringing out to welcome him. As the Rebbe drew near to approach the palace, he stopped and asked the gate keeper, ...

Zelig Koppel, who lived in a small Russian city, woke up very early one wintery Sabbath morning and decided to appear into his Bible. It was very dark so he went to wake his neighbor, a Gentile, to join him in a drink.   Surely his neighbor would not refuse once Zelig had him in the house and the neighbor would naturally light the light without being told.  When the non-Jew entered, Zelig pretended he could not find a flask in the dark.   The neighbor kindled the light.   Overjoyed, Zelig placed liquor on the table as if   to say, “Here my friend, drink to your heart’s delight.”   The neighbor gulped down one drink after the other.   After he had his fill, he smacked his lips, wiped his mustache on the back of his sleeve, tottered over to the lamp and extinguished it.    And Zelig remained alone in the dark. Moral: Sometimes we Jews lived through a war in which the world has drunk freely of the blood and sweat of our youths.   As lo...

In the Oxford Book of Aphorisms , consensus is defined as "achieved when everyone says collectively what no one believes individually.” It is hard to reach agreement where many people are concerned.   Yet, this is the basis of Democracy and community.   Consensus means giving up something of value while others do the same.   We all give and we all receive.

In 1990 newly elected president, Vaclav Havel, said in his New Year’s speech to the Czech nation, “  People are surprised that the acquiescent, humiliated, skeptical Czechoslovakian people, who had, apparently no longer believed in anything, suddenly managed to find the enormous strength in the space of a few weeks to shake off the totalitarian system in a completely decent and peaceful way. “We ask where did the young people, in particular, who have never known any other system, find the source of political imagination, civic courage, and civic foresight.” In dark times, remember what humanity is capable of doing.   And it all begins with an idea.