There is a beautiful story that I told in a recent lecture. I’m sure I have written it down before, but it is so powerful for this time, for this month of Aquarius, that I want to share it with you again.
It is a story about a great tzadik, a righteous rabbi. One day, a couple came to him with their dying child and begged him with all their heart to heal the boy. The tzadik did everything he could. He spent hours and hours in prayer and fasting, but to no avail. He finally came out to the parents, and with tears in his eyes said, ‘I’ve tried, and yet there is no opening for me to heal this child. I’m so sorry.”
The parents were devastated. Completely torn apart inside, they took the little boy into their cart and drove off.
About an hour later, the tzadik suddenly said to himself, “What did I do? What a stupid fool I am!” With that, he jumped into his cart, and driving as fast as he could, caught up with the little family.
As soon as he reached them, he said, “Listen, my friends, I may not be able to laugh with you or embrace you because I could not save your child. But I know that I can cry with you in your pain, and that is why I am here.”
This, my friends, is a tzadik. And all of us can be one at any moment in time. We all have within us an energy that allows us to open ourselves to others around us. With this ability, we can erase almost all the other negative stuff that we do. Sure, we all have negative traits. We do things every day that we maybe shouldn’t do. But if we can have the kind of care and love and compassion that the tzadik in the story had, then this is the most important quality there is.
Just for today, chuck the books. Chuck the prayers. Just be in your own divinity.
