A Soulful Journey

A poor man came to the Berdichever and petitioned him to offer prayers for his deliverance from poverty.  The rabbi asked the man to remind him of his request the next day.  “But rabbi,” protested the supplicant, “today I have a chance for a free trip home. “What can I do?” replied the rabbi.   “At this moment, my hear is full of another man’s troubles.   When the Lord will aid him, my heart will be free to take up yours.   I can assist you only when my heart feels your trouble as you do yourself.”   -Newman, Hasidic Anthology Only when we feel, are empathic, can we help one another emotionally and spiritually.

Three youths hid themselves on a Sabbath in a barn in order to smoke.  Hasidim discovered them and wished to flog the offenders.  One youth exclaimed: "I deserve no punishment, for I forgot that today is the Sabbath."  The second youth said: "And I forgot that smoking not he Sabbath is forbidden."  The third raised his voice and cried out: "I too, forgot."  "What did you forget?" he was asked.  The lad replied: "I forgot to lock the door of the barn."  - Newman , Maggidim and Hasidim Everyone rebels.  The important thing is to not forget that it is rebelling.  When that is lost, what is left?

Said the Dubner:   “A student wrote a letter to his father, asking for extra spending money.   The father’s secretary read the lad’s letter to his employer in a loud, harsh voice: “Father, send money immediately; I need shoes and an overcoat.”   The father became incensed at the seemingly impolite tone of his son’s letter and refused to answer him.   Later he gave the same letter to his wife to read.   She read it in a low tone of modesty and entreaty.   The father, thereupon, wrote out a check and instructed his wife to mail it to his son. From this letter we learn that he who prays quietly makes a better impression that a noisy worshipper.”   - Newman, Maggidim and Hasidim In prayer, the act matters.  What makes a prayer rise swiftly is how we employ our heart and head when we utter the words.

Rabbi Abish once spent a night in a tavern where he was unknown.   The wife of the tavern keeper was distressed to discover that 80 thalers were missing and she accused the guest of taking them.   The rabbi was searched, and by coincidence, 80 thalers were found on him.   The tavern keeper beat him severely and took the money away form him.   A few months later the tavern keeper’s wife found the money she had mislaid.   Her husband searched out his guest, was told his identity, returned the money and tearfully implored the rabbi’s forgiveness.   Rabbi Abish said:   “There is really nothing which I need to forgive.   It was your intention to punish a thief, not an honest man.”   - Newman , Maggidim and Hasidim What can you let go of?

The Berditcher [Rabbi Levi Yitschak] began his discourse, “A world turned topsy-turvy I see before my eyes.   In years gone by, the Jews spoke the truth in the streets and the marketplaces, but in the House of Prayer they told a lie.   It is the other way around now.   On the streets and in the marketplaces they all speak falsehood, but h in the house of Prayer they tell the truth. “A riddle?” “The explanation: honesty and good faith were the torches lighting their paths in the olden days.   And so they made good the Scriptural world of a righteous aye and nay, and all their trading was done in good faith.   But when they came into the House of Prayer, they would beat their breasts and say” ‘We have defrauded, we have robbed.’   That was then a lie, for they had been true to God and their fellow man.   Today it is the reverse: in the trading place, they lie and defraud, and in their confessional prayer, they speak the truth.” – Ne...