A Soulful Journey

  Lord of Hope (with respect to Adon HaSlichot.)   Son of man, why do you slumber? Arise and see the hope of our lives:   He who brought love to Adam and Eve, so they could build a family - He will bring us love.   He who awakened Yitzchak at the Akedah to find comfort in love - He will awaken us to find comfort in love.    He who illuminated the one who renewed the  luchot  - He will illuminate us.   He who inspired Moshe to sing and lead when he knew he would never see the Land - He will inspire us.   He who gave prophecy of the destruction, along with the hope of comfort - He will comfort us.   He who rekindled our hope when there was oil to last just one day, - He will rekindle our hope.   He who gave our Sages hope through Rabbi Akiva’s laughter - He will yet give us hope and laughter.   He who witnessed our ancestors enduring the hell of the Holocaust and rebuild – He will help us endure.   He who inspired the d...

"A well-known humorist once observed, "There are two  kinds of people: those who keep diaries and those who do not.  The former write of things they hope to do or imagine they have done; the latter are too busy living."  - Rabbi Hillel Silverman While Silverman wrote this many decades ago it is more apropos of today's environment with numerous v internet platforms where people monitor, document and describe their every move. Live today.

 "We cannot cram the embryonic world of tomorrow into yesterday's conventional cubbyholes.  Nor are the orthodox attitudes or moods appropriate."  - Alvin Toffler, Third Wave Be open.  Be wise.  Greet each new day as a rebirth.

 "Nostalgia is like sex: Every generation thinks it is for the first time."  - Michael Barries What is important is to dwell in this moment.  To be present.  This moment will never return.  It is.

 " Everything new must have its roots in what was before." - Sigmund Freud Turn the pages back in time.  The ancients were wise beyond their time. It is all here, a part of your heritage.  Learn it. 

When Brezhnev was elected to the party secretariat he brought his mother to the Kremlin for the big celebration.  There he gave her champagne and caviar.  Waiting to hear her remarks, she said nothing.  So Brezhnev then took her to the party headquarters and there had the best cocktails and caviar surrounded in a bright, modern room.  Still she said nothing.  Then Brezhnev whisked hr off to his hunting lodge with all mahogany paneling, his own private chef and stock of vodka.  Still his mother did not say a word.  Finally Brezhnev exclaimed, “Why don’t you say anything about this?” “Well,” she said, “Just be careful that the communists don’t come back to power.” As days pass and we grow old it becomes more difficult to face change and remain unfearful of the past.  When the past still haunts us we cannot fully live in the present.  This is our challenge in the days ahead, to move past our past.

Well before the birth of Israel, Ben-Gurion was approached with a partition plan that would give the Jews a small portion of land for their own. Ben-Gurion turned to a friend, Yitshak Tabenkin, an advisor as well as colleague. He asked for his advice. Tabenkin told Ben-Gurion that he needed counsel from his most trusted sources before answering. The next day Tabenkin informed Ben-Gurion that he should not accept the position. “Who are your confidantes?” asked Ben-Gurion. He said, “I asked my grandfather and I asked my grandson. I asked my grandfather who died 10 years ago and I asked my grandson who is yet to be born.” Our past tells us what we must do. Our future tells us what we must consider.

Someone once said that all of Copernicus was in Newton and that all of Newton was in Einstein, who said, “My inner and out life is built on the labors of my fellow man, living and dead…I must exert myself in order to return as much as I have received.” We stand on the shoulders of the past.

"The past isn't dead; it isn't even past."  -William Faulkner We always live in the shadow of our memories but the real question is, must we always bend to the past or can we open up to new possibilities?  New responses?

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” -  Dr. Seuss

“The past is not dead.   It isn’t even past.” -William Faulkner Where do we go?  We cannot move forward until we realize and embrace the past.

"And there is the good old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots, And the Cabots talk only to God." -toast by J. C. Bossidy at Harvard 1910 For those familiar with the history of the northeast this ditty will ring funny and true.  At a time the whole nation would chuckle reading these words.  Now, they are meaningful to students of history. What does this tell us about the importance of today's worries?

"Teach me, dear God, 
 to make a fresh start; 
 to break yesterday's patterns; 
 to stop telling myself 
 I can't— 
 when I can, 
 I'm not— 
 when I am, 
 I'm stuck— 
 when I'm eminently free." 
  - Rebbe Nachman, The Gentle Weapon

"Most people think of 
 forgetfulness as a defect. 
 I consider it a great benefit. 
 Being able to forget frees you 
 from the burdens of the past." 
     - Rebbe Nachman, The Empty Chair Forgetting is a gift to the aggrieved and even moreso, to us.

It is easy to envy those who have more than we possess.  The Mishna, however warns, "the more flesh, the more worms." A parable: A family climbs aboard a train.   They have no car, no place to call home either.   Each member carries his own suitcase.   The parents have their heavy suitcases full of a lifetime’s accumulations.   The children bear only small packages. The little ones have a future.   And that future is worth all the massive suitcases in the world. Do not look behind you.  It is past.  It is gone.

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?

"The Fates lead him who will; him who won't, they drag."   ~ old Roman saying While there are no such things as "Fates" there is a wisdom found in this old axiom.  Acceptance of life is important.  There are some things we have the power to change and others that we may howl and moan about but no amount of tears will alter what has happened. In the latter instance, the most wholesome thing we can do is accept what has occurred.  The alternative is to allow nightmares to litter our slumber and day mental wanderings that incessantly replay events and reliving the pain.  And you are too important to let that happen.

In Erma Bombeck’s I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to go to Boise: Children Surviving Cancer she tells powerful tales of children’s abilities to cut through “what might have been” and go directly to “what is now.” Bert was a five-year-old suffering from neuroblastoma. His favorite thing to do was draw. When Bert was asked, “Are you going to be an artist when you grow up?” he answered, “I am an artist.” Elsewhere, Bombeck poses the question to us all, “What good does it do if they cure the body but the person inside dies?”

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road." ~ Dag Hammarskjold What lies behind you are lessons for living. No more, no less. The demons of the past once they have given over their lessons to us need to be buried and eulogized. Even the present is fleeting. See? It is already gone. So look up and out. Find your gaze settling on the future and begin to walk towards it.