A Soulful Journey

The man: " Rabbi, what is a Jew’s task in this world?" The rabbi: "A Jew is a lamp-lighter on the streets of the world. In olden days, there was a person in every town who would light the gas street lamps with a light he carried on the end of a long pole. On the street corners, the lamps sat, ready to be lit. A lamp-lighter has a pole with a flame supplied by the town. He knows that the fire is not his own and he goes around lighting the lamps on his route." The man: "But what if the lamp is in a desolate wilderness?" The rabbi: "Then, too, one must light it. Let it be noted that there is a wilderness and let the wilderness be shamed by the light." Not satisfied, the man asked: "But what if the lamp is in the middle of the sea?" to which the rabbi responded: "Then one must take off one’s clothes, jump into the water, and light it there!" "And   that   is the Jew’s mission?" asked the man. The rabbi thoug...