A Soulful Journey

  A  story related by Rabbi Hugo Gryn  from his native Czechoslovakia about a swan.   A river flooded and swelled and the only way the still-weak cygnets  could be saved would be if the father swan carried them on his back  to a distant and safer bank. Halfway across he asked the first one,  ‘How will you treat me when you grow up?’ ‘Oh, I’ll be the best son  in the world to you! I’ll obey you, care for you, love you . . . ’ ‘You  little hypocrite,’ said the father, and dropped him. He asked the same  question of the second fledgling. ‘What’s the difference?’ he replied.  ‘You just get me to the other side.’ ‘You are no good,’ said the father  and dropped him. The third cygnet thought a while and said: ‘I’m not  sure how I will act, but I can tell you this: I shall treat my young the  way you treat me.’ And in the story that one got saved. It is a story of both honesty and direction.  We are products of our origi...

 “It’s natural to trade with joy, you know.  “I couldn’t contain my joy.”  It’s a wonderful expression.  I couldn’t contain it; I had to say something about it.  You go to a football game and somebody make a marvelous run or something, and you say, “My God, I did you see that?”  And you sal the fellow on the back beside you.  “Look at that wonderful thing!”  You have to share joy…. But it’s not so natural to share pain….” Frederick Buechner There are two sides to not sharing our anguish.  One of them its that it avoids confronting the truth, our truth. The other is that we never truly reveal ourselves to others when pain is such a large component of who we are.

 "Success has a hundred fathers while defeat is an orphan."  - John F. Kennedy Honesty dictates that we accept our failures and grow from them.

A gentleman was enquiring for a room in a boarding house in Poland. "Tell me," he asked the landlady, "are there any fleas in the bed?" "Well," she replied, "where else would they be?"  - Friday Nite Book If you have to ask... Life is demonstrated by actions.  We are what we do, how  we behave. That is why the Torah is so insistent on how we treat ourselves, treat one another and revere God.

A great rabbi wanted to reintroduce the Sanhedrin just after the birth of the state of Israel.  Ben-Gurion asked, “Where are you going to find seventy righteous and honest men?” He replied, “Well, if you pay enough you can get them! ” - Rabbi Louis Jacobs

Rabbi Yehuda the Pious tells the following story.  A Jew came to a rabbi to complain that his children had died and his fortune was lost.  How could this be?  HIs whole life he had never sinned. "Did you ever steal?" asked the rabbi. "Yes," replied the despondent man.  "I used to have a pagan who worked for me.  He was dumb.  I added his wages for him.  He trusted me and I didn't pay him in full.  What did he need it for?  Drink?  When he died all these terrible calamities occurred." "That is the sin," said the rabbi.  "It is a terrible crime to steal, even from a  pagan.  You stole coins, but you paid with your purity, your innocence, your heart and your character.  Woe to you."

A King of Prussia visited a prison and interviewed prisoners one at a time.   He asked each of them what crime they had committed.   They all declared their innocence with the exception of one man who owned the evil he had done and admitted that he was getting what he deserved.   The king ordered his immediate release saying, “This man obviously has no business here among all the innocent people.” While honesty may not always grant clemency, it is what God demands of us.

During the Depression, at great financial sacrifice, my parents bought a piano for my twin sister and me and arranged for lessons.   For many years, Mom and Dad glowed with pride as their little twins played duets at various community functions. Some 30 years later, Dad came over for dinner, and asked me to play the piano.   Warning that I hadn’t touched the keyboard in a long time, I consented.   As I played, I noticed tears running down Dad’s cheek.   I turned to him and said, “Was it that good, Dad?” He sadly shook his head and replied, “All that money, shot to hell.” - Alice Wolfe Reimche

Rabbi Abish once spent a night in a tavern where he was unknown.   The wife of the tavern keeper was distressed to discover that 80 thalers were missing and she accused the guest of taking them.   The rabbi was searched, and by coincidence, 80 thalers were found on him.   The tavern keeper beat him severely and took the money away form him.   A few months later the tavern keeper’s wife found the money she had mislaid.   Her husband searched out his guest, was told his identity, returned the money and tearfully implored the rabbi’s forgiveness.   Rabbi Abish said:   “There is really nothing which I need to forgive.   It was your intention to punish a thief, not an honest man.”   - Newman , Maggidim and Hasidim What can you let go of?

The Dubner Maggid was once asked by the Vilna Gaon for words of "mussar" (ethics). "What can I say to you?" replied the Maggid. "You, who are the pride and light of our people and who studies and prays all night...." But the Vilna Gaon was not satisfied and pressed the Maggid for "mussar" on the eve of Yom Kippur. "You are learned an pious," he began, "but how long would you last in the marketplace?  There are thieves about, ruthless competitors are everywhere and price fixing is common.  You who have never had the chance to sully your cloak, how long would you remain holy in a place like that?" The Vilna Gaon accepted his chastisement.  - Harold Shulweis

In Warsaw when the first electric street car appeared old Jews could not believe their eyes. The car without a horse? Some of them were stupefied, some were frightened. Once while they were discussing the matter and synagogue, a man who had a reputation for being sophisticated entered. He not only studied Talmud; he was reputed to know books on secular subjects, he subscribed to a general newspaper, and was well-versed in world affairs. They clustered around and asked if he knew how this thing works. ”Of course I know,” he said. “Picture four large wheels in a vertical position in four corners of a square connected by wires. Do you get it?” ”Yes, we get it,” they said. ”Now, these wires are tied together in the center of the square and then placed within in a large wheel which is placed in a horizontal position. You get it?” ”Yes, we get it," the listeners said. ”Now, above the large wheel there are several more wheels, each one smaller than the one before...

Rabbi Judah ben Beteira was one day confronted with a non-Jewish Syrian braggart.   He remarked, “I’ve been to your Temple in Jerusalem and I have even eaten part of the sacrifice reserved only for Jews which shows you do not have to be Jewish.” To this Rabbi Judah ben Beteira replied. “I bet you never had the fat of the tail, though.   You would have known to ask for it and it is reserved as extra special.” So the next year when this same man went on a pilgrimage to the Temple, he asked, “I want the fat of the tail.” The kohanim of the temple were shocked because everyone knows that this part is for the exclusive use of the kohanim. “Who told you to ask for this?” they inquired. When it was revealed that Rabbi Judah ben Beteira had told him to do so they uncovered the hidden message and put out the imposter.   –Talmud