A Soulful Journey

Rabbi Meir and a philosopher were debating proof of God's hand in the universe.  The philosopher was insistent that there was no evidence of God in the universe.  He gave as proof a magnificent poem crafted by a human being, written in a smooth hand on a piece of parchment.  It inspires awe but is the work of flesh and blood, not of Divinity. Rabbi Meir responded that while a person scribed the poem, the implements did not come from a human being...rather the inkwell came into being magically along with the paper. "Impossible," said the philosopher. "So how can you say the universe has no author?" -Zohar 1:2a

To be religious is to seek God with all one's being; to be blessed is to find him; to be theological is to make the search and its object evident in discourse.   -Paul Weiss There are many pathways to God.  Each of us has our own way.  Which is your path?

"What can we know?   That is, what can we be sure we know, or sure that we know we know it, if indeed it is all knowable….   By “knowable,” incidentally, I do not mean that which can be known by perception of the senses, or that which can be grasped by the mind, but more that which can be said to be Known or to possess a Knowness or Knowability, or at least something you can mention to a friend."    -Woody Allen, Getting Even Do you ever have conversations like this?  Sometimes?  All the time?  In the final analysis, does it matter?  What truly matters?

Give us (cries the nature of our race) our gods and goddesses; Give us the little fertility icons with their welcoming breasts And elongated beckoning lips… The philosophers leave the world naked and blind and deaf and mute and relentlessly indifferent, And the village folk – who refuse a lonely cosmos without consolation – Fill it and fill it and fill it With stone and wood and birds and animals and mammals And miraculous potions and holy babes and animate carcasses And magically divine women and magically divine men….   Cynthia Ozick in essay on Ruth

“The causal relationship between the first principle (i.e. God, or a strong wind) and any technological concept of being (Being) is, according to Pascal, “so ludicrous that it’s not even funny (Funny).”    -Woody Allen Life can be trying.  Do not forget to brush everyday and laugh.

At the beginning of each Amidah we invoke the Master of our ancestors.  This statement of belief is the foundation of our lives. It is not debatable.  It is a matter of faith. "To the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not the God pot philosophers."  -Pascal

"Agathon: But you have proved many times that the soul is immortal. Allen: And it is!  Om paper.  See, that's the thing about philosophy - it's not all that functional once you get out of class." - Woody Allen, Side Effects

A young rabbi, envious of his colleagues who had become authors decided to write a book.  When he completed the work he went to see his rabbi, the Brisker Rav, and ask for his commendation. The Brisker Rav looked over his work and said, “I am sorry young man but I cannot endorse your work.” “Why not?” “It seems your ideas are contrary to the rest of the world.” The idea which motivates can often make all the difference between success and failure, good and bad.

Two yeshiva boys set out to hike from one town to another and on the way became very hungry.   They saw a loaf of bread. The hungry boys were overjoyed at the apparent miracle. One was ready to tear the bread in half and begin eating but the other stopped and spoke. “How can a person they so anxious to eat? Before we eat, let’s look at the beauty of the loaf of bread. It is good to look at. You realize that everything on this earth can be counted as two instead of one, because there is the thing itself and thought that it exists?   It is as if there are two breads. We have the bread and have the thought of bread in our thoughts.” ”Well now that you have given me such a great philosophical explanation I think we can start eating,” the first boy said. ”You may eat,” the other responded. “As for me, I am going to look around first.”   As he walked away his friend ate the whole bread, not leaving a crumb. When the other boy returned he asked, “Where is ...

“ No philosophy today empowers and elevates conscience, while economics, sociology, psychology and particularly psychoanalysis make man distrustful of it.”  - Eugene Borowitz in How Can a Jew Speak of Faith Today

“After ecstasy, the laundry.” -   Buddhist  proverb

A student once devalued, "I have learned [or taught] Isaiah."  "Yes'" responded the elder.  "What did Isaiah teach you?" A woman was greatly moved by the brilliance of a lecturing professor and rushed up to this all-wise man and asked enthusiastically, "Professor, what do you think of God?"  The learned gentleman quietly replied, "It's not important.  What is important is what God thinks of me."   -Simon A. Dolgin

A rabbi stood in front of his congregation and said, “Before I begin my sermon I want to tell you something interesting.    I have a story to tell.    A Dutch Jew survived the Nazis by hiding in attics and cellars.    He came to the United States after the war and finished his education.    He was appointed head of the philosophy department at a university.    He assimilated, married a gentile woman, and had no interest in the Jewish community. His marriage was unhappy and he was on the verge of divorce.     A lecturer had been invited to the university and the President, a Catholic, asked the professor to greet the guest.    “Who is he?” The President answered, “He is a Jewish theologian and philosopher.” The professor, somewhat annoyed, asked the President, “Why are you sending me?” “There are two reasons.    First of all, you are a Jew.    Second, you are the chairman of the Philo...

Philosophers ponder the meaning of life.   Scientists attempt to wrest understanding from their endless theories and experiments.   Religious folk poke their noses toward heaven and wonder.   Atheists endlessly argue the same thing over and again.   Agnostics shrug. One generation unknowingly reconstructs the same arguments as the previous generation.   “Is knowledge knowable?   If not, how do we know this?”   -Woody Allen, Getting Even Might as well laugh.

“For what is fat after all but an accumulation of pounds?   And what are pounds?   Simply an aggregate composite of cells.   Can a cell be moral?   Is a cell beyond good or evil?   Who knows – they’re so small.”   - Woody Allen in Getting Even We spend so much of our lives fretting over what existence means, how to invent a better widget, how to achieve joy.   Sometimes the most profound realizations are the most obvious ones: Life itself is meant to be full of wonder... and fun.