A Soulful Journey

When I was young, I admired clever people. As I grew old, I came to admire kind people. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, ז”ל

"I as a Jew do not know what despair is.  Despair means utter futility, being utterly lost.  I will never be lost.  I know where I came from.  I know where I am going.  I am the son of Abraham.  Despite my imperfections, deficiencies, faults and sins, I remain a part of that Covenant that God made with Abraham: we are going toward the Kingship of God and the Messianic era.  This is the preciousness of being a Jew.”  - Abraham Joshua Heschel

In his book, A Passion for Truth, Heschel relates the following story: “ During a visit to Kotzk by Reb Yankev Arye of Rodzhimin, Reb Mendl asked him, "Yankl, why was man created on this earth?" "He was created in order to restore the purity of his soul," Reb Y ankl replied. The Kotzker Reb be roared back at him, "Yankl, is that what we learned from the rebbe in Pshyskhe? Surely man was created to exalt the Heavens!"   What does the Kotzker mean….to exalt the heavens? I realize that the Kotzker is saying that man was not created to focus on himself, to restore the purity of his soul that had become sullied.  - Rabbi David Ebstein

In 1963 was a convention of the national Conference on Race and religion. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was reluctant but finally agreed to speak. At that Chicago convention, Heschel stood next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. That was the first time Dr King ever spoke before such a wide spectrum of religious leaders. Before 1700 people Heschel’s opening remarks began, “The First National Conference on Race and Religion took place in the palace of Pharaoh of Egypt when Moses said to Pharaoh “Let my people go!” The conference delegates, especially the Black delegates, exploded enthusiastically in their response. Time moves. The political landscape changes. There is progress. Yet, beyond all that is the critical notion that we have a basic responsibility for one another. We must ne the guardian’s of our brethren. We have experienced the same pains – all we have to do is remember and then we will respond to the rallying call against injustice.