A Soulful Journey

"The Messiah...will come [to Rome] and command the Pope and all the kings of the nations in the name of God, 'Let my people go so that they may serve Me'."  - Ramban For thousands of years this has been the hope of the Jew.

  If God did not conceal from each person, the moment of death, no one would build a home: no one would plant vineyard. Each person would say, “Tomorrow I will die. Why should I do all this work for others?” Therefore, God concealed the day of a person’s death so that each person would build and plant.   - Yalkut Shimoni 968   We are free to make our own pathway toward a future that is bright with hope.  God is the Creator but he gave to us control over lives.  That decision to make positive contributions to the world is firmly ours. Live fully.

Ben Gurion: “In Israel in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.”  - October 5, 1956 Interview on CBS After the city of Safed was liberated, Yigal Alon made this comment, "After the war of Independence, (Yom Ha-atzmaut) one of the leading Rabbis of Safed said of the Palmach that there were two events that made this moment possible, a  miracle and action.  What was the action?  The many people reciting Psalms for victory.  And what was the miracle?  That the Palmach was successful." We are partners with God and humanity.  That means we pray and work for justice and freedom at the same time.

A wealthy man strolled through his garden and spied a little bird and tangled in a mesh of wire. He freed the frightened creature and held her in his hand. Suddenly the bird began to plead, “Kind sir, please let me go. I will be of no value to you for I am not beautiful. I cannot sing and I am not edible. If you will set me free I will offer you three valuable pieces of advice." The amazed man agreed. The bird then spoke, “Do not worry over that which is gone. Desire not that which you cannot obtain. Believe not that which is incredible.” The rich man appreciated the bird’s advice and set her free. The wise little bird quickly flew to the highest branch of a nearby tree and laughed heartily.  “Why are you laughing?” the man asked.  “I am laughing at you,” the bird chirped, “for if you were not such a fool you could have been the wealthiest man in the world.” “How?” the man asked, bewildered. “Very simply,” the little bird replied, “for I carry a diamond the s...

A Russian Jew is being interviewed on arriving in Israel. "What did you think of the food in Russia?" "I can't complain." "What did you think of the lifestyle?" "I can't complain." "What did you think of the architecture?" "I can't complain." "Then why did you leave and come to Israel?" "Because here I can complain!" -Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

At the meeting of the Board of rabbis in a large city in America the guest speaker was the famous Ashley Montague. For years the board had invited prominent Jewish scholars to speak at the annual gathering. This time it was decided to aim for a great public name, a general celebrity, not a Jewish one. After the speech, one of the rebbitzens cried to Dr. Montague, “What can we do to keep our children from assimilating, from intermarriage, from leaving our faith?” The answer from the benign professor and author was, “Madam, why are you crying? You should rejoice! Our prayers have been answered.  This is what we came to America for: to integrate, to assimilate, to join humanity, to wipe away archaic distinctions based on tribalism and superstition!” Be careful with what you embrace.

“When, at last, we stepped out of the ghetto into the world, worse befell us from within then ever before than had ever befallen us from without. The foundation, the unique unity of people and religion, developed into a deep rift, which has since become deeper and deeper.”  -Martin Buber With freedom comes great responsibility as the temptation is to merge with everyone else.

WHAT IS A JEW? This question is not as strange as it may seem at first glance. Let’s examine this free creature that was insulated and oppressed, trampled on and pursued, burned and drowned by all the rulers and the nations, but is nevertheless living and thriving in spite of the whole world. What is a Jew that did not succumb to any worldly temptations offered by his oppressors and persecutors so that he would renounce his religion and abandon the faith of his fathers? A Jew is a sacred being who procured an eternal fire from the heavens and with it illuminated the earth and those who live on it. He is the spring and the source from which the rest of the nations drew their religions and beliefs. A Jew is a pioneer of culture. From time immemorial, ignorance was impossible in the Holy Land, even more so than nowadays in civilized Europe. Moreover, at the time when the life and death of a human being was worth nothing, Rabbi Akiva spoke against the death penalty which is now co...

Months after the birth of Israel, Karl Shapiro in the New Yorker magazine, “When I think of the liberation of Zion, I hear the drop of chains… I feel the weight of prisons in my skull falling away… When I see the name Israel high in print the fences crumble in my flesh…. I say the name allowed for the first time unconsciously… Speak the name of the land, speak the name only of the living land.”

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell

"Freedom involves the abandonment of hate, because hate is the abdication of freedom." Rabbi Jonthan Sacks

Rabbi Nachman Teaches us as follows: "Good thoughts come from the Good inclination, negative thoughts come from the evil inclination"   Dough will become 'Chametz' when you don't touch it for 18 minutes. Within this period of time, you can bake Matza out of it. If 18 minutes pass, it is considered as Chametz and you can't bake Matza out of it.   Same thing with our thoughts.   A negative thought should never stay too long in our heads. Push it out, kick it out, replace it with any kind of other good thought. Rebbe Nachman teaches us that we can only have one thought in our heads at a time. A bad thought comes quickly replace it with a different thought, a beautiful nature scene, the gravesite of a Tzaddik or the face of a loved one or Tzaddik.   Don't let it ''chametz'' your brain, and it doesn't have to take more than a millisecond to reject it.   If you'd feel a little drop of cyanide on your tongue, how fast would you try to ge...

“Excuse me, we’re conducting a poll on the shortage of meat in your country,” the pollster said to four interviewees. “What’s a shortage?” the American asked. “What’s excuse me’?” the Israeli asked. “What’s meat?” the Pole asked. “What’s a poll?” asked the Soviet. -David Harris Freedom and bounty are two great gifts we should never take for granted.

Miyom sheboro hakadosh baruch hu et olamo ("From the time that God created the world,") v'ad she-amdi Yirsal al hayam ("until that every day when the Israelites stood at the banks of the Red Sea,") "lo motzuinu she'amru shirah ("we do not find anyone singing before God.") - Exodus Rabbah 23:4 Song was born when freedom was won.

A Soviet and an American who discussed which country has the greater freedom. The American said,   “You Soviets have not freedom at all.   I can go in front of the White House and shout to the President Reagan that he is an idiot. And nothing will happen to me.” The Soviet replied, “So what’s the big deal? I can go in front of the Kremlin shout, 'President Reagan, ‘You are an idiot’ and not only will nothing happen to me but Gorbachev himself come out and shake my hand.” Freedom.  It is irreplaceable.

Shortly after Avram left Kiev for a business trip in Eastern Europe, his friend back home received a telegram from Poland: GREETINGS FROM FREE WARSAW, AVRAM. A few days later, second telegram, this one from Czechoslovakia, arrived: GREETING FROM FREE PRAGUE, AVARM. Several more days passed before a third telegram from Hungary arrived: GREETINGS FREOM FREE BUDAPEST, AVRAM. The followed a long period of silence before the friend in Kiev received a telegram from Israel: GREETINGS FORM JERUSALEM, FREE AVARAM. We have been wandering fro so many millennia and now we are free.   We have a home.

"There are as many Communists in the Freedom Movement as there are Eskimos in Florida."  -Martin Luther King Why is it that people have the propensity to label anything they do not like as dangerous?  Imagine a world where we listened to different opinions in the interests of learning how other people think.  Maybe God Himself would weep with joy.

A king entered a province and asked the people to accept him as their king. "Why?" the people asked.  "Why should we accept you as our king?  Have you done anything for us?" So the king built a fortress to protect the country against invasion, waged war against its enemies, and created a water supply.  When he came again to the people to ask if they would have him as their king they answered, "Yes." So it is with God.  First God dried the Reed Sea for Israel, then He supplied them with manna, quails and water, and finally fought on their behalf.  Only then did God come and say, "I am the Lord your God." Exodus 20:2  -Mechilta bhodesh 5:II

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s own way.”   -Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning So long as we breathe we have a choice.  No one can force us to act of feel anything unless we agree. 

In 1949 John Currier was sentenced to a life in prison.   He was illiterate.   After serving many years he was paroled to work for a wealthy farmer.   Finally in 1968 Currier had completed his sentence and was released.   Records show that a letter was written both to Currier and the farmer telling them that the sentence was over.   Currier never saw the letter. Ten years passed and the farmer died.   Currier kept working living in an old trailer and earning a meager $5 per week. He bathed in a horse trough and used a hose   for a shower. It was not until the 1980’s that an officer heard about Currier and told him about the letter and that he had been freed over a decade ago. Are you free?