On The Bookshelf
SUMMIT
CHIROPRACTIC
Dr. Samuel Gray. Dr. Adam Apfelblat
Exceeding Your Expectations
"Not only do I feel better
physically, I' m treated like
a mensch, not a number"
Harvey Kline
W. Bloomfield
Rabbinic Reflections
Rabbi's book describes 10 journeys that spiritual
seekers must go through to reach maturity and
become the people God intends them to be.
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r
IVIIT hen Rabbi Zusya was
about to die, his students
gathered around him.
They saw Rabbi Zusyas
eyes break out into tears.
"Our master," they said with deep
concern, "why are you crying? You have
lived a good, pious life, and left many
students and disciples. Soon you are
going on to the next world. Why cry?"
Rabbi Zusya responded, "I see what
will happen when I enter the next
world:
"Nobody will ask
me why was I not
Moses? I am not
expected to be
Moses. Nobody will
ask me why was I
not Rabbi Akiva? I
am not expected to
be Rabbi Akiva.
"They will ask
me why was I not
Zusya? That is why
I am crying. I am
asking, why was I
not Zusya?"
. -
to
No two humans have precisely the
same calling on this earth. Even iden-
tical twins, although they share genetic
information, have a separate set of life
experiences that contribute to their
uniqueness. Every human being is
totally irreplaceable, for no two people
are born into the exact same circum-
stances. No one else can do what
another was put on this earth to do.
Our first great journey of life, leav-
ing home, also leads us to find our
particular calling.
Some of us know immediately, from
the earliest days of childhood, why
God put us on this earth. Some of us
Being Hulnalt
In this classic cha-
sidic story, Rabbi
Zusya's greatest
fear was that God
would ask him,
"Why did you not fulfill your unique
destiny that is the reason I put you on
the earth?"
This simple story reflects perhaps
the most powerful teaching of our
shared biblical traditions: Our soul has
a unique destiny. We are not on this
earth by random chance but have been
put here to fulfill a divine purpose.
Each of us has a mission and a call-
ing. In a beautiful statement about the
uniqueness of each and every human
being, the rabbis teach, "A human
being makes many coins with the
same stamp, but each one is exactly
like every other one. But God makes
many human beings with the same
stamp, and each and every one is
unique" (Sanhedrin 5:4).
"The first journey
is from childhood to
adulthood, as we leave
home and seek out our
own identity. The last
journey is from temporal
to eternal life, as we
face our own mortality.
In between, we must
all find the paths to
maturity, family,
prosperity and
good health," writes
Rabbi Gold.
spend much of our lives searching.
Some of us find our calling as young
adults, some in the middle years, some
only upon retirement from the work-
force. Some never quite find it.
Our very language reflects this sense
that each of us has a unique mission:
We often speak of young people who
are still "finding themselves."
For some, the calling comes in a
moment of revelation. Moses was a
shepherd, happily married, settled and
working for his father-in-law.
Suddenly he came upon a bush that
burned but was not consumed. A
voice cried out from the bush telling
Moses, "Go before Pharaoh and tell
him, let my people go.'" Moses tried
every excuse to avoid his calling. In