A Soulful Journey

“A person must learn to stand before God. A person must lean how to walk before God. A person must learn to pick himself up after one falls. What do you do if you feel that you cannot pick yourself up?  Then you have to keep on walking and dancing until you dance your way to heaven.”  -Nachman of Bratslav

“Do not climb up to My altar by steps.” - Exodus 20:23 Rabbi Isaac Meir of Gur interprets:   Two blind people wishes to reach a rooftop, and tried to figure out how to do it.   One of them got himself a ladder and the other got himself a long plank to serve as an inclined ramp.   Each of them ascended.   But the difference between the two of them was this.   The one who climbed on the ladder [the rungs of which recall the steps proscribe din the verse] knew at each step exactly how much higher he was, and exactly how many steps he still had to ascend.   But the one who ascended by the ramp – as long as he was not at the rooftop, he had no idea where he was situated and just how high he was…   Similarly here: “Do not climb up to My altar by steps” – that is, do not look around, just continue to do good works and to engage in the service of God.”   Quoted by   Rabbi Daniel Greyher