A Soulful Journey

 Physicist and Nobel-Laureate Leon Lederman reveals what makes the life of a scientist special: Winning the Nobel Prize was a great thrill.  But it does not compare with the incredible excitement that comes when you realize an experiment is a success; when you discover some new fact about the universe. It's astonishing how often this happens around 3 am., when you are alone in the lab.  You have learned something profound, and not one of other five billion people on earth knows what you now know.  -from The God Particle Each of us possess something unique to us.  Our task is to discover and thenreveal it.

...And to show the greatness of the Holy Blessed One, for while a person stamps many coins from a single mold, and all that are produced come out alike, the King of Kings, the Holy Blessed One, has stamped every person with the mold of the first Adam, yet not one of them is like his fellow. And so, each and every individual is obligated to say, “For my sake was the world created….”  Mishnah Sanhedrin, 4:5

Sanhedrin 37a:13-15 : "Therefore the first human being, Adam, was created alone, to teach us that whoever destroys a single life, the Torah considers it as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single life, the Torah considers it as if he saved an entire world.  Furthermore, only one person, Adam, was created for the sake of peace among men, so that no one should say to his fellow, 'My father was greater than yours....  Also, man [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. 

The story is told of the Tzemach Zvi who compared himself to a hatter. A hat has to fit one's head and yet they hatter makes hats without regard to size. Customers try on the hats until they find one that fits.   The Tzemach Zvi said that he too makes hats and when someone finds a hat fits, it is for that person that the hat was made.  – Rabbi Dan Yoel Levy No one person is the same as another.  Therefore each person must be treated as unique, an individual.  “ One size does not fit all.”

A woman begged the Maggid of Kozhenitz for a blessing to have a child.  He said, “My mother was as unhappy as you are, and fore the same reason.  That was the case until one day she met the Baal Shem Tov.  She presented the Baal Shem Tov with a cape.  I was then conceived and born the following year.” “Thank you,” said the woman, beaming.   “I will do as you suggest.   I will get the most beautiful cape I can find.” The Maggid smiled.   “No, that will not help you.   You see, my mother did not know this story.” Alternate telling:  A woman who came to see the Maggid of Koznitz, Rabbi Israel told of her sorrow: “I have been married twelve years and am still childless.” “What do you think you will do?” asked the rabbi. And since she did not know what to say, she began to tell him as follows: “Listen, my mother was quite old and without children.   One day she heard that the holy Baal Shem Tov would stop in Apt, her villag...

The Roptchitzer Rebbe stated, "By our service to God we build Jerusalem each day.  One of us adds a row, another only a single brick.  When Jerusalem is completed the redemption will come."

Rabbi Hanoch told this story: There was a man who was very stupid.  When he got up in the morning it was so hard for him to find his clothes that at night he hesitated to go to bed for thinking the trouble he would have on waking.  One evening, he finally made a great effort, took paper and pencil, and as he undressed he noted down exactly where he put everything he had on.  The next morning very well pleased with himself, he took up the skip of paper in his hand and read: "trousers" - there they lay, he got into them and so it went until he was fully dressed.  "That's all very well, but now where am I myself?" he asked in great consternation.  "Where in the world am I?"  He looked and looked, but it was a vain search; he could not find himself.  "And that is how it is with us," said the rabbi. This is our task.

Art Buchwald told of the famous violinist Jascha Heifetz when he had come to a concert in Rochester, NY to give a concert on the day of a major blizzard.   Only 40-50 people showed up in the massive auditorium.   So he said to them: “You know, it’s ridiculous for me to give a concert for such a small audience.   Why don’t you just come back to my hotel?   We’ll have a couple of drinks together and we’ll schmooze.” But one person got up and said, “Mr. Heifetz, I’ve been a fan of yours all my life.   I traveled 120 miles in this blizzard just to hear you.   Please don’t disappoint me.” One person is, after all, a universe.

Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk taught, "What was given at Sinai was the same for everyone but what was received varies according to each person's capacity." Each person is unique.  We have our own path, our personal memories, and a task affirmed by heaven.  We hear God in a way meant for only us.