A Soulful Journey

  Two fellows meet up again by chance who hadn’t seen each other since they were yeshiva bachurim together decades before. They each have achieved success in their respective fields.  One is a well known biology professor at a top university and the other is a Rosh Yeshiva. The professor invites his former Yeshiva buddy to his next class at the university.  The Rosh Yeshiva happily accepts.  As the class begins and the professor begins his presentation, the rabbi looks around and sees some students dozing off, others reading a newspaper, and only a few paying attention.   At the end of the class the professor and the rabbi chat together, and the rabbi invites his friend to attend his next shiur at the Yeshiva.  The professor happily accepts.   At the Yeshiva, the professor finds a seat with all the students, but when the Rosh Yeshiva walks in, all the bachurim stand up in respect and only sit down once the rabbi takes his seat. During the shiur all li...

“The  middah  [aspect of truth] warns against self-righteousness and holding ourselves and our holy curriculum as morally superior to Others.  Rather we are to be guided by the qualities of truth and compassion, and to always remember that while differences exist, it is not for us to judge.” - Rabbi Moshe Cordevero Can we do this?  Be open and compassionate to those with whom we disagree?

“May there not be envy by one person of another, and direct our hearts each one of us see the virtues of my fellow humans and not their defects and faults.” – a prayer of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk

The founder of the Jewish ethical movement, Rabbi Israel Salanter tells the story of a strange town on a Shabbat when he was invited to eat with one of the town’s most respected families. Returning from Services, his host noticed to is great horror that his wife had forgotten to cover the hallot.  Fearful that Rabbi Salanter think his household was not knowledgeable about the tradition, the man yelled at his wife for forgetting this basic act. Mortified and blushing with shame, she ran to drape the cover over the bread. When it came time to recite the Kiddush, Rabbi Salanter stopped the man and said: “I am not sure the food in this house is kosher. It is a home that worries more about embarrassing bread than embarrassing people.”

Midrash Sifre Devarim shares the tale of a group of rabbis who were at a banquet held in honor of the nasi Rabban Gamliel in honor of his son.  Rabban Gamliel made a point of preparing and serving the wine himself, which one of the subordinate rabbis refused, not wanting to compromise the stature of the nasi.  His colleague, Rabbi Yehohsua responded, “Let him serve.  After all, Abraham, our father, one of the great ones of the world, served the ministering angels when he thought they were merely passersby… If Abraham served those whom he thought were idolaters shouldn’t Gamliel serve us?” Rabbi Zadok went further: “You have ignored God’s honor in order to deal with the honor of flesh and blood. If the One who spoke and the world came into being causes winds to blow, brings up clouds, brings down rain and raises vegetation, thus setting the table for everyone, should not Gamliel serve us?” Give it to Him Who deserves our awe and respect.

Husband: “Have you ever wondered what you would do if you had a millionaire’s income?” Wife: “No, but I wonder why they would do of they have mine.” Real justice means no that everyone has the same but that all are treated with equal respect and dignity.

“Do not cast me off in old age; when my strength fails me, do not forsake me!” -Psalms 71:9 "When we were young, we were treated as men (i.e. told to act like adults); now that we have grown old we are looked upon as babies.”   -Talmud, Baba Kamma, 92b “Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they shall instruct you.” – Deuteronomy 32:7 “Show respect to the aged who have forgotten their learning, for we have learned that the fragments of the old tablets [of the Ten Commandments] were kept along side the new tablets in the Ark of the covenant.”   - Talmud Berachot 8b “You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old.     You shall fear your God."  -Leviticus 19:32 Rabbi Yochanan says this means that you should stand in the presence of the aged, saying, “How many experiences have happened to this person!”   -Talmud, Kiddushin 33a

“I am a creature of God And my neighbor is also a creature of God. My work is in the city And his work is in the field. I rise the morning to go to my work And he rises in the morning to go to his work. As he cannot excel my work, So I cannot excel in his work. Perhaps you will say that I do great things And he doesn’t small things. We have learned that it does not matter, only if he directs his heart to Heaven.” – berachot 17a

Rabbis Hiyya and Yonatan were walking in a cemetery.   Rabbi Yonatan’s tzitzit were trailing him, dragging on the ground. Rabbi Hiyya remarked to his colleague, “Pick them up as the dead will think we are mocking them.”   They will say, “Tomorrow they will join us but today they degrade us.” -Berachot 18a Respect for all, living or dead, is demanded of us.

“If a Jew attempts to kill an non-Jew, help the non-Jew.” –Sefer Hasidim “God says: ‘Both the Gentiles and the Jews are my handiwork.   Can I let the former perish on account of the latter?’ "  –Sanhedrin 98b