A Soulful Journey

  “It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion--its message becomes meaningless.” ― Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism

A little over a decade ago, I was invited to address and “ideological seminar” of the World Union of Jewish Students some 30 miles north of Helsinki in Finland. An ongoing debate developed between myself and very debonair Israeli journalist, publisher of a rather decadent, extremely left-wing newspaper. Throughout of our debate he kept arguing that I am a member of the Hebrew nation, while you are a member of the American nation, you are a Belgian national, and you are French national. I am in Hebrew national-and therefore we are not the same people. We may have the same connection in the remote past, like that of the Australians and the British, we are basically of different nationalities. I am a Hebrew national.”  I had just about enough of this particular line and so I said, “I’d like you to know that in the country I came from ‘Hebrew National’ is the name of the firm that produces baloney. The only difference is that their baloney is certified as kosher.  – Rabbi ...