A Soulful Journey

 A young doctor noticed a new medical book entitled, "What To Do Until he Doctor Comes." "The devil makes such books," the doctor called out angrily.  "Why doesn't someone write, 'What to do until the patient comes'??" We all have our perspective.  And our perspective comes from our needs.  It is critical that we remember everyone has different perspectives and different needs.

 I n the words of former Chief Justice Earl Warren, "not to mistake the urgent for the necessary." Be mindful. Think. What is needed and what is wanted.  Can you tell the difference? 

"All needs are one-sided. When hungry we are in need of food, yet food is not in need of being consumed. Things of beauty attract our minds; we feel the need of perceiving them, yet they are not in need of being perceived by us....Religion begins with the certainty that something is asked of us, that these are ends which are in need of us."   Abraham Joshua Heschel

A rich Hasid asked his rabbi, “I can understand and fulfill with all the mitzvot in the Torah except one: “One should bless God for the bad as fervently as for the good.” His rabbi instructed, “Go to the other and the town and spend some time with Hayim, the water carrier.” The rich Hasid traveled by carriage to a slum.   Hayim, the water carrier, was in his flimsy shack, his children went barefoot, playing in the filth they were grubby and malnourished.   “The rabbi sent me to see how you fulfill the mitzvah of “One should bless God for the bad as fervently as for the good.” Hayim looked puzzled. “He sent you to see me?  I cannot understand why.  I have never been given anything from God but that which is good.” - Rabbi Gerald Zelizer What is missing in your life?

"There are many differences between the rich and the poor.  Among Jews, the rich hope for prosperity, health and happiness while the poor Jew prays the there will be a clear moon with no obliteration." - Rabbi Louis Jacobs Simple people have simple requirements.  Complicated lives are inevitably complex.

The Berditschever Rabbi was seeking a Shofar-Blower.  Many applied for the post, and he asked each one his   mystic thoughts during the Shofar-blowing.  No one's answer pleased him.  Finally one man said: "Rabbi, I am unlearned, and I know no mystic thoughts, but I have four daughters to marry, and I have no money for their dowries.  Therefore when I blow the Shofar, I think: 'O Lord of the Universe; I have done my duty in obeying Thy command; do Thou also Thy duty and send me worthy mates for my daughters.'" The Berditschever Rabbi appointed him to blow the Shofar.  If he thought that he was inadequate for the responsibility, the rabbi chose him and declared him fully adequate.  Your  brokenness is what can bring you wholeness.  

“My feet lead me to place I desire.” -Sukkah 53 Look around and you may be amazed to find that you are exactly where you need to be.

“In the depths of the depression of the 1930s, a government agent visited the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The federal government was making small allotments to the impoverished farmer for stock, feed, and necessary equipment.    The agent came upon a mountain woman who lived all alone and try to grub a living from 2 acres of land. She had no floors in her cabin (save for the packed earth and just a few sticks of homemade furniture.) Daylight streamed through the chinks in the cabin walls. The agent looked around and then asked, “if the government gave you $200, what would you do with it? The woman weighed the question for moment and then replied, ‘Reckon' I'd give it to the poor’.”   -Hal Brady, quoting Harold Koh, The Tinsel and Hay, 1968

“…the obsessive concern with money, goods, and things is a reflection not of capitalism or socialism, but of industrialism.   It is a reflection of the central role of the marketplace in all societies in which production is divorced from consumption, in which everyone is dependent upon the marketplace rather than on his or her own productive skills for the necessities of life.”   - Alvin Toffler , The Third Wave Written decades ago, the basic human core and desire for more has not changed.   Has it?  Can human nature change?

The motto "where there's a will, there's a way," is a supposition of modern man. We are "blind to the fact that, with all his rationality and efficiency, he is possessed by "powers" that are beyond his control.  His gods and demons have not disappeared at all; they have merely got new names.  They keep him on the run with restlessness, vague apprehensions, psychological complications, am insatiable need for pills, alcohol, tobacco, and, above all, a large array of neuroses."  - Carl Jung This small holiday that we are in the midst of, Hanukka, is a reminder that what is truly great is not what is most valuable but what is most valued.  God is here already.  We do not need to hunt for Him.

After a while the cell phone loses its luster and we peer at the ads for the latest additional gizmo that will entertain us. By the time we have exhausted the newest model with the features that made it seem wondrous at first, they have now become necessary, almost vital to our lives. How did we ever live without them? The same is true for all the inventions that make their way into our lives. From televisions to radios to GPS’ to texting and on, what was once a comfort grew to be a necessity. Every now and again it is good to do a reality check by asking ‘Who is the master and who is the servant?’ “Comfort is a stealthy thing that enters the house as a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.” ~ Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibrain