A Soulful Journey

"From the day when the temple was destroyed, we should be right to make a decree binding upon ourselves not to eat meat nor drink wine but it is a principal not to impose on the community a degree to which the majority of the community cannot adhere." - Talmud Life can be vexing and arduous yet we must not make it worse for others because we are suffering.  Consider others before pronouncing or acting.

In a Chinese province there had been no rain.  Afraid of losing their crops, a delegation was sent to bring an aging rainmaker to the village.  The old man agreed and came with the delegation to the town. “I need,” he said, “to be alone. A small cottage will do.  And I require noting to eat for three days. Just some water.” The people did as he requested.  Three days later, rain fell from the sky filling the deep, dry crevices of the earth. Curious, the people asked the rainmaker how he did it.  “It is simple,” he answered,  “I had three days to put myself in order.  Then the world would be in order and rain would come.” Do not complain that the world in in disorder.  Begin with you.  All will be well.

Rabbi Bunim told the man the following story: Once, the holy   Baal Shem Tov   had to travel to a far-off destination on a matter of extreme importance to the welfare of a Jewish community. As was his custom on such trips, the Baal   Shem   Tov told his coachman, Alexis, to drop the reins and turn around in his bench. No sooner had the coachman turned his back on the horses that the road began to literally fly under their feet, and they traversed a many weeks' journey in a few hours. The horses, noticing that they were galloping past the feeding stations without stopping, thought to themselves: "Perhaps we are not horses after all, but human beings. Otherwise, why are we not being given oats and water at the customary places? Surely we will eat with the men, when they stop for their meals at the crossroads inns." But the inns, too, flew by, one after another, with dizzying speed. "It seems," the horses now surmised, "that we are not men after all, bu...