January 2010

“An old Jewish tribe in a middle European Country faces crisis. They are about to be invaded; they look to the old venerated Rabbi for guidance and wisdom. The Rabbi said he had no immediate answer, but he knew how to find one: he went into the woods. He lit a fire. He said a prayer. God answered his prayer. The Rabbi told the people what God had revealed. The people did God’s will. The village was saved. That was the experience. Following the experience, the second generation said: “The woods we cannot find, but the fire we can, light and prayer we can say.” The third generation said: “The woods we cannot find, the fire we cannot light, but the prayer we can say.” The fourth generation said: “The woods we cannot find, the fire we cannot light, the prayer we cannot pray, but the story we can tell.”…

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the…