TELL ME A GOOD STORY – By Raphael ben Levi
Some years ago, I read an article from “The World Union of Jewish Students” which I found intriguing. Here is an extract: “God created man because He loves stories. The whole world is God telling a story. God is telling us stories, creating the world, creating people, telling long stories. There is such a thing as prayer, which is very deep, but prayer is not the deepest depths of closeness to God. The deepest depths of closeness to God is when you can tell God a story. The Tree of Knowledge is theories and the Tree of Life is stories. Everything we understand comes from our consciousness. Where do stories originate? Imagination. The truth is, the story comes from beyond my consciousness, but it flows into my consciousness. The story itself is really beyond. When you dream, you always dream stories, not theories. When people sit and tell each other stories, they really become friends.”
In this day and age empty pleasantries are usually exchanged upon greeting another person, like a mantra: “How are you?” “I’m fine!” “And yourself?” Many people from the Jewish ultra-orthodox community rather greet each other with the words: “Tell me a good story.” (i.e., share with me something that will feed my soul)
A similar sentiment was shared by the late Elie Wiesel in the preface to his novel, ‘The Gates of the Forest.’ “When the founder of Hassidic Judaism, the great Rabbi Israel Shem Tov, saw misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to commune with God. There he would light a fire, pray earnestly and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted. Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Maggid of Mezritch, had occasion for the same reason to intercede with Heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest to pray, ‘Master of the Universe, listen! I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to say the prayer.’ Again, the miracle would be accomplished. Still later, Rabi Moses-Leib of Sasov, to save his people, again would go into the forest and say, ‘I don’t know how to light the fire. I do not know the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient.’ It was sufficient and the miracle was accomplished. Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhin to overcome misfortune. Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hands, he spoke to God: ‘I am unable to light the fire and I do not know the prayer and I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is tell the story, and this must be sufficient. It was sufficient, for God made man because He loves stories.”
The Israelites were instructed to, “Whet and sharpen (God’s commandments) so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of the children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.” (Deut. 6:7)
We boldly tell the story – the good news of salvation through Yeshua – against stern warnings from various world governments who make it a criminal offence to do so. Yesterday, Canada was added to the list alongside countries such as N.Korea and China. Tomorrow?
