A Soulful Journey

On one occasion President Harry Truman was asked to speak at a fundraising project to help the children of the White House guard who was slain in the line of duty. With great feeling he said, “You can't imagine just how a man feels when someone else dies for him!” King David must have had a similar feeling for the three mighty men who were so loyal to him. When he expressed a longing for a drink from the well of Bethlehem, three soldiers voluntarily broke through the Philistine lines and secured it for him. David was so moved by their courage that he wouldn’t drink even one drop of that precious liquid. Instead, he poured it out as a libation to God saying: “Can I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” To him their act was as noble as if they had died for him.  - Rabbi Gary Greene   The men and women who defend us at the risk of their lives every day- whether soldiers, police, medical personnel or the person who stops at the roadside to ask if you are...

 Who is a hero? One who turns an enemy into a friend.   -Avot d'Rabbi Natan

We have the testimony of a great Hasidic figure, the mysterious Leib, son of Sarah, who proclaimed to anyone willing to listen: " I came to the Maggid not to listen to discourses, nor to learn from his wisdom; I came to watch him tie his shoelaces." Choose your hero wisely then observe closely for if you chose well everything he does will be sotted with godliness.

“A time to embrace” (Ecclesiastes 3:5).  What does this verse mean? It means, if you see a group of tzaddikim, good people, standing near you, stand up and hug them and kiss them and hug them again.   Kohelet Rabba The people who, we venerate are heroes.  Whom do you venerate?

During field training exercises in So. Carolina, one drill instructor threw a pine cone among recruits and yelled, “Grenade!” The trainees immediately turned away and hit the ground. “Just as I suspected,” chided the drill Sargant.  “Not a hero among you” Didn’t anyone want to jump on that grenade to save the others?”  A little later the instructor threw another pinecone and yelled, “Grenade!” This time, all the recruits but one jumped on the ‘explosive.’ “Why are you still standing there?” the instructor demanded of the standing man. “Sir,” the recruit replied, “someone had to live to tell about it.” -Rabbi Toba August Not everyone can be a hero.  What we can be is true to ourselves.

  There’s a hero, if you look inside your heart. You don’t have to be afraid of what you are. There’s an answer, if you reach into your soul, and the sorrow that you know will melt away. And then a hero comes along with the strength to carry on, and you cast your fears aside, and you know you can survive. So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong and you will finally see the truth that a hero lies in you.   “Hero” sung by Mariah Carey