A Soulful Journey

The Sadiguerer Rebbe, Reb Abraham Jacob, married off a daughter.  On the way to the wedding his hat, which had cost him three hundred rubles, was stolen.  The rabbi sent for the King of the Thieves, and asked him to guess where his hat could be. “Find my hat for me,” the rabbi pleaded, “and I will give you whatever you ask for.  I am ashamed for my in-laws to find out.” “Rabbi,” the King of the Thieves, replied, “If one of my Hasidim stole your hat, I still have hopes of finding it.  But if one of your Hasidim stole it, then the hat is lost forever.”   Honor, honesty and dignity are the hallmarks of a good person….even if their vocation is not one we would choose.   Even  religiosity does  not necessary mean integrity.  

"All true civilization consists in our attaining that deepest simplicity which is the highest wisdom."  - Albert Schweitzer Be true.  Be honest.  Clean up after yourself.  It's all basic.

A debtor asked his friend how he could escape paying off his debtors. The friend suggested that he act mad, dancing, whistling, and laughing. When they came, they were frightened by the debtor and ran off. Pleased himself he sat down and laughed. The debtor also owed some money to his friend and when he came to claim it he again pretended to be crazy. "You ungrateful wretch!” the friend screamed. "I advised you on how to save your self and now you use it as a weapon against me?” Moral: Do not expect someone who has learned to be dishonest to be honest with you, even if you are their friend.

Three retired old guys sat on a beach in Palm Beach.  “How’d you get here?” the first asked the second. “I had a textile factory in Passaic,” the second guy replied, “and I did pretty well for a long time. Then the competition from down south got fierce.  One day my water pipes burst and ruined all my machinery. I retired and came here on the insurance money.  How about you?” “I had a box company in Bridgeport,” the first guy said, “and was doing pretty well.  Then the price of materials shot up, and I nearly went broke-until a fire destroyed my whole plant. Luckily I was insured and I moved down here.” He turned to the third man. “And what brought you here?” ”Well,” the third answered, “My clothing factory in Puerto Rico did okay, but when Far Eastern manufacturers started underselling me, I thought I would go bankrupt. Then a hurricane flattened the building. I got the insurance, retired and came here.” The other two looked at ...

Raymond Floyd was the first golfer to win tournaments in both the regular PGA tour and Seniors tour in the same year.   Raymond Floyd understood how to play the game of golf and the game of life as well.   In 1986 Floyd called a penalty stroke on himself for an infraction no one else saw during the Manufacturer’s Hanover Westchester Classic in New York.   As Floyd addressed the ball on the third hole, the ball moved ever so slightly, but enough to change location.   The penalty he assessed himself for the violation he alone witnessed, put him a shot behind the tournament leaders. After his round of golf, he was asked about the incident.   “It’s no big deal,” he said.   “It’s the way you play the game.   If you lead your life by the standards of the rule sof golf, you’ll be in pretty good shape.” Life is a game and it is all about how we play nicely, honestly, with others.

A shopkeeper may not polish old utensils or butcher make meat look fresher than it is in order to fetch a higher price  .  -Talmud Our faith is concerned about integrity.   Unlike the aphorism, “buyer beware,” our attitude is honesty in the marketplace and honesty is all things.

“…the right question is usually more important than the right answer to the wrong question.”   - Alvin Toffler , Third Wave Politicians are experts in evading questions that they do not want to answer, or do not know.   Better to be honest and say, “I do not know.”

  “Gold never doubted that racial discrimination was atrocious, unjust, and despicably cruel and degrading.   But he knew in his heart that he much preferred it the old way, when he was safer.   Things had been much better for him when they had been much worse.” -Joseph Heller , Good as Gold One of the great truisms of life is that it is better to know where you stand with someone who hates you than guess because someone is too polite to tell you.   If that is true, what can we learn about honesty and integrity?