A Soulful Journey

Reb Meir Shapiro of Lublin told the story illustrating the difference between a Hasid and a Litvak.   In the Talmud, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uzziel was so brilliant that if a bird flew overhead it would become scorched by the direct line that ran between the scholar and heaven.   If a Hasid saw this he would say, “How remarkable it is that the bird was burned by Reb Yonatan’s righteousness!”   A Litvak, on the other hand, would say, “Would Yonatan be liable to pay for the dead bird?” –Louis Jacobs Some  people are spiritual by nature, others are linear.  There is a place for everyone.  Everyone has their place.  Be tolerant.

Shlomo is one of the very survivors of the decimates Jewish section of Lublin after a horrific massacre. In Lublin he came upon refugees from Tulchin , from Bar and from other towns, and he learned from some of the forced converts of the death of his father and mother, who dies for the sanctification of His name together with the other Jews from Tulchin . And he roamed about through the fair of Lublin among the refugees, among the husbands separated from their wives and the wives separated from their husbands, among the widows and the orphans. He heard the sighs and moans of his people which rose up over the fair. And one day he walked in a narrow street in Lublin where the merchant's stalls were located. And he saw standing before an empty booth an old man who was calling buyers into his booth. And he marveled greatly, for the booth was empty, there was nothing in it to sell. And he walked into the booth and asked the old man: "What do you have to sell here? Your b...