A Soulful Journey

 "When a scholar dies every person is his/her relative [we all grieve].  When a friend dies, all suffer.  When a tzaddik dies, the entire generation is diminished. - Talmud

 "He has gone where fierce indignation can lacerate his heart no more." -epitaph of Jonathan Swift Life can be hard. But if we take care of one another it does not have to be so.

Rabbi Tarfon said, “Akiva, being too far away from you is like being too distant form life itself.”   -Kiddushin 66b When you are near a person who embodies the Torah, stay close.

“Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature it sympathize with a friend’s success.”   - Oscar Wilde Competitiveness and jealousy are companions that undermine real friendship and ultimate happiness.

In time of war in an occupied country, a member of the resistance meets one night a Stranger who deeply impresses him.  They spend the night together in conversation.  The Stranger tells the partisan that he himself is on the side of the resistance - - indeed that he is in command of it, and urges the partisan to have faith in him no matter what happens.  The partisan is utterly convinced at that meeting of the Stranger’s sincerity and constancy and undertakes to trust him. They never meet in conditions of intimacy again.   But sometimes the Stranger is seen helping the members of the resistance and the partisan is grateful and says to his friends, “He is on our side.” Sometimes he is seen in the uniform of the police handing over patriots to the occupying power.   On these occasions his friends murmur against him: but the partisan still says, “He is on our side.”   He still believes that in spite of appearances, the Stranger did not deceive him. ...

Consider a recent “Peanuts” comic strip: Charlie Brown was busy trying to get his kite to fly.   Lucy is next to him, looking severe as usual.   But suddenly the kite is lifted off on a gust of wind, begins to fly, and Lucy shouts: “We did it, Charlie Brown, you and I together, we did it.   You’ll tell everyone that we worked together won’t you.   You’ll tell them we were a team., we did it, won’t you.”   Just then, the kite crashes to the ground and breaks up into pieces.   Lucy walks away muttering, “I don’t know you.”   - Michael Zedek   A real friend does not turn they back when you are hurt.

George Bernard Shaw sent Winston Churchill two tickets to his latest play, with a note saying, “Here are two tickets to my new play. Bring a friend, if you have one.”

A man befriended a bird in the forest.    The man sought to deepen their friendship and invited the bird to his home for hospitality.    Before they entered the house from the cold, the bird noticed the man blowing on his hands.    “Why are you blowing on your hands?” the bird asked.    “That’s to make my hands warm,” the man replied.    As they sat down to eat the bird noticed the man blowing on his hot soup.    “Why are you blowing on your soup?” the bird asked.    “That’s to make my soup cold,” the man replied.    With that, the man noticed the bird flying toward the door.    “Where are you going?” he asked the bird.    To which the bird replied, “A man who blows both hot and cold with the same breath cannot be a friend.”   Or as someone so well put it: A true friend is there when you need them … a false friend is there when they need you! – Aesop fable retold by Rabbi Mitchell...