Getting Serious...

Last night, one of the holy chevra in the shul came over to me and said: "Rabbi, I can tell that with the high holy days coming, you're finally getting serious. You're much better when you're serious!"

I told him that of course I'm getting serious: Yom Kippur is Yom K'Purim, and if there is ever a time to get serious, it's now...

Insane in the membrane

You know the Rebbe Nachman story where there is a propet who tells everyone that if they eat the wheat they will go insane. Nobody believes him except one family. They realize that they can't survive without eating a little bit of wheat, and besides if they refrain from eating wheat then everybody will think that they are insane. So they eat but make a marking on their forheads so they will be insane but at least it will be a conscious insanity. Well What happens if everybody eats it and nobody makes a sign, Who would be around to tell us the story?

You never quite know how you got there until you're in it. One minute you were cruising along enjoying the breeze and then all of a sudden you're waist deep in it. You put the pedal to the floor thinking you can muscle your way out of it but that just gets you stuck even deeper. Guilt sets in , how could this happen to me? Then despair I will never get out of this gunk. The mind races what did I do to to deserve this fate? The occasional passerby offers to throw you a line but it will do little good as they can't appreciate the hole you are in. An old parable from AA comes to mind as your i phone battery is drained and the hours stretch on without a response from triple a. There was once a boy who was stuck in a hole. A priest walked by and he yelled help me father I am stuck in a hole! The father threw him a cross but he was still stuck in the hole. A rabbi then walked by and He yelled for help from him, the rabbi tossed him a bible but little good that did. Then a recovering addict heard his yell for help and jumped into the hole with him. The boy looked at him and asked what good will that do now we are both stuck? The recovering addict responded but I have been in the hole and I know how to get out. But what does one do if they have lost the strength to scream out for help? What if our calls for help go unanswered?