A Soulful Journey

 "Get on fire for God, and men will come to see you burn."   -John Wesley A very disturbing thought indeed.

Called upon to take over the Hasidic movement, Rabbi Hirsch found the position empty.  He withdrew and ultimately spoke only to his deceased father.  In his dreams, he asked, "How can I best serve God?" The Baal Shem climbed a high mountain and threw himself into the abyss.  "Like this," he said. Another time the Baal Shem appeared to him as a mountain on fire, erupting into a thousand fragments.  "Like this as well." There are times when we want to close to the Almighty but the first step is to rid oneself of ego.

It is written, "And God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud . . . and by night in a pillar of fire" ( Exodus 13:21 ). But how is it possible to say this? Is it not written, "The whole earth is filled with His glory"? ( Isaiah 6:3 ). Rabbi Antoninos explained this with the following example: A king once sat in judgment and remained in court until after dark. His children remained in court so that they would be able to accompany him home. When the king left for his palace, he took a lantern and carried it, lighting the way for his children. His officers and nobles saw this and offered to carry the lantern for the king. The king then told them, "I do not carry the lamp because I lack someone else to carry it. I carry it to show my love for my children." Rabbi Antoninos explained that the same is true of God. He reveals His glory before His children as an expression of love for them.  - Mekhlita

Three retired old guys sat on a beach in Palm Beach.  “How’d you get here?” the first asked the second. “I had a textile factory in Passaic,” the second guy replied, “and I did pretty well for a long time. Then the competition from down south got fierce.  One day my water pipes burst and ruined all my machinery. I retired and came here on the insurance money.  How about you?” “I had a box company in Bridgeport,” the first guy said, “and was doing pretty well.  Then the price of materials shot up, and I nearly went broke-until a fire destroyed my whole plant. Luckily I was insured and I moved down here.” He turned to the third man. “And what brought you here?” ”Well,” the third answered, “My clothing factory in Puerto Rico did okay, but when Far Eastern manufacturers started underselling me, I thought I would go bankrupt. Then a hurricane flattened the building. I got the insurance, retired and came here.” The other two looked at ...

Christopher Morley writes of a man relaxed in a barber’s chair, his face lathered, enjoying the attentions.  Suddenly, a boy comes to the door of the barber shop shouting, “Mr. Schultz!  Mr. Schultz! Your house is on fire!” The customer jumps up from the chair, tears the apron off and runs down the street, lathered face and all.  He goes a full block before he stops and says, “What am the deuce am I doing?  My name isn’t Schultz!” Morley says it reminds him of how often he’s spent time and energy running to someone else’s fires.

A lunatic set a house on fire while the village was asleep.  The fire spread rapidly to other houses.  Each family frantically ran about, attempting to save their possessions.  A wise bystander remarked, "You are silly people.  Instead of trying to save your own possessions why don't you put out the fire so that it will not spread any further?" MORAL: If each person is only interested in their personal welfare, the world will not endure.

The myth of Prometheus tells when he steals fire from the gods and is discovered, he is chained to a rock for his crime. In Jewish tradition, Adam is shown how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together, by God. In our tradition, He is not a jealous God, safeguarding His secrets but allowing instead man to enjoy all that remains on the earth. The one exception is on Shabbat when man should refrain from certain actions.   – Rabbi Louis Jacobs

The Dubner Maggid delivered a fiery oration before an assembly of people in Berlin and severely reprimanded their mode of living. Realizing that there was no response of their part he told them the following story: "A blacksmith, who lived in a small village, bought a mechanical fire blower for shop. Until then he had to blow fire himself. The blacksmith was delighted with the instrument,. But strangely enough it produced no fire when he attempted to use it. He blew and blew to no avail. He had forgot the blower can only create fire if there was a spark inside.   So, my friends, since you do not possess the tidiest spark, of what value is my blowing?”

Let us wait for Shabbat, thought the Baal Shem Tov. Perhaps his saintliness coincides with that of the seventh day.   Wrong again:   his host slept even more than during the week. Unable to contain himself any longer, the Baal Shem spoke to him, “When I came here I had a question to ask you. I shall not ask it.   But now I have another: why do you eat so much?” “I’ll tell you,” answered the man.   “It has to do with my father. Who was as a good Jew, gentle and frail, aspiring to please the Lord. Nothing else interested him. Neither money nor honors, not even health.   He lived only for and by the Torah. One day he was on his way to services when he was grabbed by bandits who tied him to a tree and ordered him to kiss across. He refused, of course. They beat him mercilessly; still he refused. Then they put kerosene over him and set him on fire. And because my father was so weak and thin, he burned only a moment; almost as soon as he was lit, he was burned out....

When President Truman fired General MacArthur he remarked, “I just fired God.”   This was one of the most trying episodes in Truman's presidency.  Yet, there are times when truth must be told at any cost.

The overseers of the Brisker Synagogue decided to discharge the shammes, sexton.   They asked the rabbi, Reb Yoshe Ber, to break the news to him.   Reb Yoshe Ber refused. “Why won’t you do it?” the overseers questioned.   “You are the rabbi.   And he is your shammes!” Reb Yoshe Ber answered, “You recite every morning the passage where God ordered Abraham our Father to bring his son Isaac to the altar as a sacrifice.   That command God gave himself.   But when He told him to hold back his hand and not strike his son, God spoke through an angel.   Why didn’t God send an angel to speak at the beginning?   Because an angel would have said, ‘If you want to kill a Jew, do it yourself’.” Lesson? We need to protect one another.

Faith gives power. It provides light in darkness and is the source of endless potential.   All this happens within. One man of faith approached another and said, “As far as I can, I stay in my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts.   What else can I do? Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands toward heaven.  His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all aflame’.”     - from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Be a fire.

William Lloyd Garrison was an abolitionist, perhaps the greatest ever.   He was the publisher of a newspaper called "The Liberator." Garrison was a pained and angry man.   He was bitter and angry at the treatment of slaves.   He hated slavery with a deep and abiding passion. One day a good friend, Samuel May, called up Garrison to calm him down.   “Oh, my friend, try to moderate your indignation and keep more cool.   Why, you are all on fire.” Garrison replied, “Brother May, I have need to be all on fire, for I have mountains of ice around me to melt.” We have much to learn from those who burn with zealotry for righteousness.   For principles, justice, goodness, and God we should all be aflame with wisps for fire that touch the heavens.

"What is to give light must endure burning." ~ Viktor Frankl May it be Your Will Heavenly Father that I shine. May my pain be converted to new strength that grows stronger and ever more radiant. Do not just heal these wounds but let me learn great lessons from them. I do not want my suffering to be without reason. I want my life to be aflame with direction and purpose. Let this be my prayer.