A Soulful Journey

 If someone was a baal teshuvah (someone who had repented) you may not say to them, "Remember what you did..." If someone was a  convert, or descended from converts, you may not say tho them, "Remember what your ancestors did...."  - Talmud, Baba Metsia 58b

The late Isaac Bashevis Singer once suggested that, “a Jew is someone who can’t sleep and won’t let others sleep either.” We have many titles and tasks in life. Perhaps the greatest of them all is to remind the world there is a God, a moral code, and ethics which transcends opinion.

We work.   We go to school.   We save for vacations.   We raise our families.   We build homes and empires.   With all this busy activity sometimes we forget what it is all for.   What is our goal in life?   What are we doing all this labor for?   Am I putting emphasis where it belongs?   Or have I gone astray? In Ropshitz, it was customary for the wealthy – whose homes were built at the far end of town – to hire someone to watch over their property at night.   Late one evening, when Rabbi Naftali was taking a walk, he met a watchman on his rounds.   The rabbi asked, “Who are you working for?” After the watchman replied he also asked, “For whom are you working, rabbi?”  The question pierced the heart of the rabbi.   He walked silently beside the watchman for a while and finally asked, “Will you be my servant?” The watchman answered, “I would like to, but first tell me what my duties would be.” “To remind me,” replied...