2018.12.07 12:40
Where Do I Belong?
An old Hasidic tale summarizes the need to move
from solitude to community in the spiritual life
in order to find our true home in the world.
--- Darkness and the Dawn ---
The rabbi asked his students:
"How can we determine the hour of dawn,
when the night ends and the day begins?"
One student suggested:
"When from a distance you can distinguish
between a dog and a sheep?"
"No," was the answer of the rabbi.
A second student said,
"It is when one can distinguish between a fig tree
and a grapevine?"
"No," the rabbi said.
"Please tell us the answer then," said the students.
"It is then," said the wise teacher,
"when you can look into the face of another human being
and you have enough light in you to recognize
your brother and sister.
Until then it is night, and darkness is still with us."
Ha·sid·ic
/həˈsidik,KHäˈsidik/
adjective
1.
relating to or denoting Hasidism, a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academicism of rabbinical Judaism.
"Hasidic Jews"