Wonderful

“Wonderful” starts with wonder.  Can anything be truly wonderful if we do not feel the well of amazement when experiencing it? 

The most deeply religious men and women of history were consumed by “radical amazement.”  They peered at the world through lenses that saw the miraculous in the mundane.  This is the primary difference between the religious and the non-religious.

A colleague tells the story of a child looking up to her father, pointing to the heavens and asking, “Daddy what is up? Beyond the sky?”

“Ether, my child.”

At this the little one crinkled her nose and turned her attention to other things.

The task of an educator (and who is not an educator to a child?) is to enlarge her horizons, not to limit inquisitiveness or crush curiosity.

Make no mistake: Wonder is not the sole purview of children or tzaddikim.  It abides in each of us and must be allowed to swim in the endless ocean of life.  Stand by the shore of the sea or smell a fragrance, the rabbis tell us, and say a blessing.  Why?  Such an utterance allows us to give way to jaw-dropping inspiration.

Albert Einstein wrote that, “The supreme task [of scientists] is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction.  There is no logical path to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them…”

Sit back, gaze at the stars and feel awestruck.  You have not forgotten how to do that, have you?  No, it is like riding a bicycle.  Once you know, you always know.  What draws us away from feeling amazement are the pulls on our time that want to make us believe that they have something more important to tell us.  There is nothing more meaningful than being still, saying a single prayer with kavanah (meaning), hugging love and hanging on to them feeling your emotions overflow, tasting your food, not questioning helping another or being thankful for your eyesight.  That is why the ancient ones tells us that we must utter one hundred blessings each day.  In being aware of the multitude of miracles that surround us we become elevated.  And happier.  Much happier.

The Pathless Path

There is no answer.

There never has been an answer.

There never will be an answer.

That’s the answer. 

~Gertrude Stein

Isn’t that wonderful?

It's Adar!

It is so easy to let events overtake our lives.  The calls on our time are innumerable.  How then do we live a meaningful life when the phone rings incessantly?  How do we focus on love when the “text” function dings again?  The stock market does another nose-time.  Time to sweat.  But, wait, the children are crying….

We tend to think these things are new.  They are not.  Time is finite.  The calls on our time are infinite.  It has always been that way.

But I have good news.  This is the month of Adar (this Hebrew month according to the lunar calendar).  So what does Tradition tell us about Adar?  It says, “Be happy!”  So, Judaism says to be happy.  How do I do that?  How do I lay aside the annoyances of e-mail and bills and be happy?

Let me share a story from the great Maggid of Dubno:

Once a great ship was proudly sailing the seas.  She carried many important merchants bringing huge quantities of merchandise.  Far out in the ocean, a violent storm arose and the ship was in danger of sinking. The captain called the passengers together and asked that they throw any extraneous cargo overboard or else they may all drown.  The merchants, anxious to save their lives, began to bring out their precious possessions and toss them overboard.  One of the merchants, however, who was known to have with him considerable wealth, was about to cast over his valuables along with his tallit and tefillin.  His companions protested, “Fool!  Throw the precious gems over because you can do without them, but not those!  They are our life!”

            What the Maggid was telling his audience is that we determine what is valuable and what is not.  We decide the importance of all things.  In other words, we can actually make the decision to be happy.  So in a few weeks we will celebrate Purim.  We can come in masks and drink.  We can shout and parade.  We can eat and laugh raucously (March 24).  And it is all good.  You will choose to participate and make merry.  Or not.

Look at what the Talmud says: 

“If your head aches, study Torah.  If your throat aches, study Torah.  If your stomach aches, study Torah.  If your bones ache, study Torah.  The Torah is the cure for all ailments.”  (Eruvvin 53) 

Is this true?  Of course it is.  You know in your heart that it bears holy truth.  When we elevate pain (physical or psychological) it sharpens.  When we focus on G-d earthly demands fade.  They may not disappear but they no longer occupy all our attention and so become less important.

Talmud study happens every Shabbat (shh! Don’t tell too many people), adult education is ongoing, services are held every day and , best of all, God is always present.

“Slow me down, Lord, I am going too fast,

I can’t see my brother when he’s walking past.

I miss a lot of good things day by day;

I don’t know a blessing when it comes my way…

Slow me down, Lord, so I can talk

With some of your angels –

Slow me down to a walk.” -author unknown

Make of you days what you want them to be.  Choose the Rock of Ages.  And “don’t worry be happy. “ It’s Adar.