A Soulful Journey

A student asked his rebbe: “We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. But how can I do that if my neighbor offends me?” The rebbe answered: “You must try to understand what these words really mean. Love your neighbor because your neighbor is like you. For all souls are really one. Each is a spark from the original soul, and all are bound together like the limbs of a single body.  If you punish your neighbor, you only hurt yourself.” –Martin Buber, Tales

Rebbe Moshe of Kobryn once looked at the Heavens and cried: "Angel, little angel!  It is no great trick to be an angel up there in the sky.  You don't have to eat and drink, beget children and earn money.  Just you come down to earth and worry about eating and drinking, about raising children and earning money, and we shall see if you keep on being an angel.  If you succeed, you may boast - but not now."  - Martin Buber Or as Albert Schweitzer said, "You don't have to be an angel ignored to be saint."

They asked Rabbi Levi Yitzhak:  “Why is the first page number missing in all the tractates of the Babylonian Talmud? Why does each begin with the second?” He replied: “However much a man may learn, he should always remember that he has not even gotten to the first page.”  - Martin Buber

Concerning the verse in the Psalm: “Happy is the people that knows the joyful shout; they walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance,” the Baal Shem said: “When the people do not depend upon heroes but are themselves versed in the joyful shout of battle, then they will walk in the light of Your countenance.” – Martin Buber Depend upon you.  God will then be your help.

Two statements below are about law.  Which is true for you? 1. “When Law came into the world, freedom came into the world.” – Beresheit Rabbah 2. ”For me, though man is a law-receiver, God is not a law giver, and thereby the Law has no universal validity for me, but only a personal one. I accept, therefore, only what I think is being spoken to me.”  – Martin Buber

Rabbi David of Lelov once heard a simple man who was praying say the name of God after every verse. The reason he did this was that there are two dots, one above the other, at the close of every verse. The man took each to be the tiny letter “yud” (in Yiddish it is pronounced as “yid” which also means “Jew”) and since the name of God is sometimes abbreviated in the form of two “yuds,” he thought that what he saw at the end of every verse was the name of God. The tzaddik instructed him: “Wherever you find two Yids (Jews) side-by-side and on a par, there is the name of God. But whenever it looks to you as if only one Yid (Jew) is standing above the other, then they are not Yids (Jews)  it is and it is not the name of God.” –Martin Buber,  Late Masters We a re here with, and for, one another.

“When, at last, we stepped out of the ghetto into the world, worse befell us from within then ever before than had ever befallen us from without. The foundation, the unique unity of people and religion, developed into a deep rift, which has since become deeper and deeper.”  -Martin Buber With freedom comes great responsibility as the temptation is to merge with everyone else.

Once, on the close of the Day of Atonement, when Rabbi Shlomo was in gay mood, he would tell each Hasid what he, i.e., the Hasid, had asked of Heaven on these holy days and what was intended for his request. To the first of his disciples who wanted to be told, he said: “What you asked of God was that He should give you your livelihood at the proper time and without travail, so that you might not be hindered in serving Him. And the answer was that what God really wants of you is not study or prayer but the sighs of your heart which is breaking because of the travail of gaining a livelihood hinders you in the service of God.”   - Martin Buber , Early Masters

“When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.” - Martin Buber  

Rabbi Mikhail of Zlotchov told:   Once when we were on a journey with our teacher, the Baal Shem Tov, he went into the woods to say the afternoon prayer.   Suddenly we saw him strike his head against a tree and cry out loud.   Later we asked him about it.   He said, “While I plunged into the holy spirit I saw that, in the generations which precede the coming of the Messiah, the rabbis of the Hasidim will multiply like locusts, and it will be they who delay redemption, for they will bring about the separation of hearts and groundless hatred.” –Martin Buber Even good intentions can bring about disaster.  We must always be vigilant and ask if we are doing the correct thing.

Once the Baal Shem Tov stood in a House of Prayer and remained motionless for a very long time.   All his disciples had finished praying but he continued on.   They waited for him a good while, and then finally left for home.   After several hours, when they had attended to their various duties, the returned to the house of Prayer and found the Master still immersed in deep prayer.   Later, he said to them, “By going away and leaving me alone, you dealt me a painful separation.   I shall tell you a parable: “You know that there are birds of passage who fly to warm countries in the autumn.   Well, the people in one of those lands once saw a glorious bird in the midst of a flock which was journeying through the sky.   The eyes of man had never seen a bird so beautiful.   He alighted on the top of the tallest tree and nested in the leaves.   When the king of the country heard of it, he bade them to fetch down the bird with his nest.   He...

Once when the Yehudi (the Yid of Pshishke) was walking cross-country, he came upon a wagon which had turned over. “Help me raise it up!” said the driver. The Rabbi tried but he could not budge it. “I can’t,” he finally said. The peasant looked at him sternly.   “You can all right,” said he, “but you don’t want to.” On the evening of that day the Yehudi went to his disciples: “I was told today: We can raise up the Name of God, but we don’t want to.” – Martin Buber, Late Masters Anything is possible if we have the will.  Our problem is there is a part of us that holds back and, as a result, our efforts are not whole.

“Man is like a tree.   If you stand in front of a tree and watch it incessantly to see how it grows, and to see how much it has grown, you will see nothing at all. But tend it all times, prune the runners and keep it free of beetles and worms, and – all in good time it will come into its growth. It is the same with man.   All that is necessary is for him to overcome his obstacles, and he will thrive and grow.   But it is not right to examine him hour after hour to see how much has already been added to his stature.” –Martin Buber