A Soulful Journey

“Gold was a moderate in just about everything, advocating…fiery caution and crusading inertia.”  - Joseph Heller   God needs us to be His hands in our world.  He has provided the directions.  All we need do is follow them, not remain uninvolved. 

Rabbi Moshe Leib told this  story: “How to  love  men is something I learned from a  peasant.  He was sitting in an inn along with other peasants, drinking. For a long time he was as silent as all the rest, but when he was moved by the wine, he asked one of the men seated beside him: ‘Tell  me, do you love me  or don’t  you love me?’  The other replied: ‘I  love you  very much.’ But the first  peasant  replied:  ‘You  say that  you love me,  but  you do  not know what I need. If  you  really loved  me, you  would know.’ The other had not a word to say to this, and the  peasant  who had put the question fell silent again. “But I understood. To know the needs of men and to bear the burden of their sorrow—that is the true  love  of men.”

“But after what he had seen of the scaffolds of Plaszow and Auschwitz, she would never take him to a children’s playground without growing hysterical at the sight of the swing frames.”  - T. Kineally , Schindler’s List   What we bring with us from our past stays with us forever.  We are the product of our environment.  That is why it is so important to remember that we are not all the same.  We have different vulnerabilities and tipping points.

A former Marine who was studying Aikido.  Despite the fact that Aikido is supposed to be peaceful, this individual was most anxious to test his skills in a combative environment.  He thought he had an opportunity on a Tokyo subway, when a drunk day laborer entered a subway car, hurling insults and curses.  The Marine was about to leap into action, when a little old man called to the laborer from the other side of the car.  “Hey!  Come here and talk to me.”  “Why should I talk to you?” the man replied?  “What have you been drinking?” the elderly man persisted.  “Sake, and it’s none of your goddamn business.” The wise elder persisted, engaging the laborer in conversation.  He shared how much he and his wife loved sitting in their garden at sunset and sharing a little bottle of sake.  “I’m sure you have a lovely wife too,” he said.  The laborer’s eyes teared up- “I don’t got no wife, I don’t got no home, no job, no money, nowhere to...

The laws and stories that revolve around tzedaka are many.  They all aim to change human nature by changing the way we think about poverty and the poor: A rich man once came to the Maggid of Kiznitz.  “What are you in the habit of eating?” the Maggid asked.  “I am modest in my demands,” the rich man reply. “Bread and salt and a drink of water all that I need.” ”What are you thinking of??” the rabbi reproved him.  “You must eat roast meat and drink mead like all rich people.”  He did not let the man go until he promised to do as he said.  Later Hasidim asked him the reason for this odd request. “Not until he eats meat,” said the Maggid, “will he realize that the poor man needs bread.  As long as he himself eats bread, he will think the poor man can live on stones.”

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.

“…any beast can cry over the misfortunes of its own child.   It takes a mensch to weep for other’s children.”   -Sam Levenson We must all strive to be this kind of a mensch.

The story is told about a rabbi who came home from shule one Shabbat, and his wife asked him: what did you speak about today? He said: "I spoke about how the rich should give tsedaka to the poor." She said: "How did the sermon go over?" He said: "I persuaded half the congregation." She said: "Really? Which half?" He said: "The poor." - Rabbi Jack Reimer And when it comes to pass that the entire congregation will hear and understand the Messiah will step into the congregation.

"How a minority, Reaching a majority, Seizing authority, Hates a minority." -Leonard H. Robbins We  came from a place of impoverishment. It is invaluable to never forget our roots so that we never relinquish what makes us most human, empathy.

"If your goal is not determined by your most secret pathos, even victory will only make you painfully aware of your own weakness." - Dag Hammarskjold

My grandmother would ask me, whenever someone complained. “Sister, did you hear what Brother So-and-So or Sister Much-to-Do complained about?” I would nod. “Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all, for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that [work] that person was grumbling about. So, watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. And if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Maya Angelou.

Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich starker ("That which does not kill me, makes me stronger") Nietzsche Most Jews would find this difficult, even while being true. It is a truism because suffering often has the capacity to build within us a resilience and determination. We learn from falling down and skinning our knee a valuable lesson. And yet, the reason why it is so problematic for Jews is that there are times when pain does nothing to enrich our character. It deprives us of joy and often compassion for the suffering of others, It can make us calloused and hard and perhaps suffer a worse fate than death, indifference. Maybe the most valuable commodity/trait we will ever possess is our pathos. When we lose that, there is only death.