Rabbi Mark's Excellent Adventure
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Hashpa'ah: Spiritual Direction
    • What is Hashpa'ah?
    • Individual and Group Sessions
    • Spiritual Eldering
  • Contact
  • Music & Teachings

A Year of Stories #32: R' Zalman and The Centipede

2/19/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture

My friend and colleague R' Leila Gal Berner shared this sweet story with me. 
R' Zalman tz"l brought so much joy to so many of us, what more fitting way to enter into the month of Adar. 

מרבים בשמחה
Marbim B'simcha! May Our Joy Increase!

When I was a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, I had the honor of spending a fair amount of time learning with Reb Zalman at the P’nai Or house on Emlen Street. During that time, Zalman and I would take walks in the neighborhood. Since Mt. Airy is an old neighborhood, the sidewalks were very uneven and it was always necessary to look down when walking in order not to trip and fall flat on one’s face. Simply strolling was impossible.
 
One day, walking and gazing down at the sidewalk carefully, Reb Zalman spotted a centipede. Bending down, he gently scooped the centipede up and placed it on his arm. As it undulated up and down Zalman’s arm, my rebbe spoke quietly, “Baruch HaShem, Leila leybn, that we can gain such wisdom from this little creature! Look at its many legs. You know, we are like the centipede. We each walk on hundreds of feet and it is only somewhere in our lives that we discover our genuine two feet. All the others feel inauthentic, unreal, like marshmallows, like pillows. We don’t really feel anything beneath our feet and we aren’t really connected to the vitality of the earth beneath them. But when we discover our ‘real’ feet, we begin to feel deeply connected to holy ground, just as Moshe Rabbeinu felt before the burning bush. With our real feet, we feel heat and cold, and pain. We feel softness and harshness, and sharpness — we feel Life!  Make sure, Leila leybn, that you find your authentic feet and walk honestly and humbly on them.
 
Years later, I reminded Reb Zalman of his words about the centipede. My rebbe smiled and simply asked me, “So, nu, have you found your feet yet?” When I answered that I thought so, he laughed and said, “Baruch HaShem.”




Thank you Leila for sharing this with us.


If you have a story or comment to share, please do so by clicking on the Comments section below



************
Please consider offering a tax deductible donation to support this project and the work of DC's Jewish Renewal community Minyan Oneg Shabbat.
If you would like to be added to the growing list of 
"Year of Stories" followers, let me know at RebMarko@gmail.com, 
with "Year of Stories" in the subject line.
1 Comment
Mary F, Meyerson link
2/19/2015 12:29:15 am

Many thanks to you, Reb Marko, and Rabbi Leila Gal Berner (who I've had the privilege of studying with!) for this lovely story. The lesson that I'm reflecting on now is that perhaps we (I) need to try out many feet, before we find our authentic ones. May Reb Zalman's memory continue to be for a blessing.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Mark Novak is a "free-range" rabbi who lives in Washington DC and works, well, just about everywhere. In 2012 he founded Minyan Oneg Shabbat, home to MOSH (Minyan Oneg Shabbat), MindfulMOSH (Jewish mindfulness gathering), and
    ​Jump in the MOSh Pit with...

    a weekly online gathering

    Archives

    June 2017
    February 2017
    August 2016
    December 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    A Year Of Stories
    Baal Shem Tov
    Baseball
    Blessing
    Children
    Church
    Curses
    Death
    Elie Weisel
    Elijah
    Folktale
    Funny
    Gardening
    Hanukkah
    Howard Thurman
    Imagination
    Kashrut
    King Solomon
    Marie Howe
    Mark Nepo
    Mary Oliver
    Memory
    Mindfulness
    Minyan Oneg Shabbat
    Mourning
    Music
    Nasrudin
    Oneg Shabbat
    Outreach
    Passover
    Prayer
    R' Zalman
    Sacrifice
    Shabbat
    Shiva
    Shlomo Carlebach
    Story
    Sufi
    Teshuvah
    Thomas Merton
    Tisha B'Av
    Yizkor

    Jewish Bloggers
    Powered By Ringsurf
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Hashpa'ah: Spiritual Direction
    • What is Hashpa'ah?
    • Individual and Group Sessions
    • Spiritual Eldering
  • Contact
  • Music & Teachings