A Soulful Journey

When the curators of London’s National Gallery suggested that the paintings of the Old Masters be cleaned there was an outcry.  The accumulated grime was essential to the pictures, they reasoned.   Any art historian will tell you that accumulated grime does not enhance the artist’s creation, it diminishes it.  Yet there are some who claim that nothing should touch what has become old.      Every thing, every moment, and event should be looked at as novel.  Innovation, while not abandoning the past, should not be seen as dangerous.   We grow from each new experience under heaven.  Look with fresh eyes at God’s world.  Peel away the layers of dust and detritus and you will be richly rewarded for seeing the universe as was intended, not though smudged glasses.

The late Ephraim Levine once upset a member of the fashionable New West End Synagogue off Bayswater Road in London. The offended member accosted Levine in the street. "Reverend," he declared, "I'm leaving your congregation and joining the Reform." "Mr. Cohen," the reverend replied, "Does it really matter which synagogue you don't attend?" - Jewish Chronicle 6/18/82 When there is a difference of opinion in the way we see ourselves and the way others see us , it is often wise to listen.