A Soulful Journey

"Everyone in Israel believes in God.  You can tell by how they drive."  -Rabbi Leonard Kravitz

Two Israelis were speaking, just having left the country. "When are you coming back to Israel?" the first asked. "We're sitting on our suitcases. Just as soon as our son finishes college, we are taking the first flight back to Tel Aviv." "Wonderful! We will meet the plane."  When does he graduate?" "Well, he graduates kindergarten next year."  - Wendy Leibowitz What do we do for our children  Sacrifice so that they will have a better life.

Back in the 1930's in tel Aviv's Mughrabi Square there used to be a big clock with no glass covering the face.  Legend has it that one day Mayor Meir Dizengoff ordered that the clock be removed.  When residents of the area asked him why, Dizengoff explained that it was because every Jew who walked by the clock reset it according to his own watch. Sometimes reality and our vision of what life should be do not jibe.  At that point, do we can change ourselves?  Or do we adjust the way we interpret that reality. Which is better?  Which are we?

“I share the traditional view that even if we [Israelis] wish to be a nation like all the nations, we will not succeed.   And if we succeed – that will be the end of us.” – Gershom Scholem

Two young Israeli soldiers were on miluim (reserve duty).  Their task was to patrol an area where Jews and Arabs lived in the same neighborhood in Jerusalem.  It was a tense area and time.  One of them chanced to see an Arab woman rummaging through the garbage.  He took pity on her and gave her his sandwich. His solider buddy then said to him, "I don't know whether I can go to war with you.  You might shoot too late." The other replied, "I don't know whether I can go to war with you.  You might shoot too soon." This tale also applies to judgments we make without a rifle in our hands.  Every day we make decisions about others.  Those decisions are more of a reflection on us than them.