Story Tour: The Journey Begins

Copyright © 2014 by Rachmiel Tobesman.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014906909

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4931-9954-9

                Softcover        978-1-4931-9955-6

                eBook             978-1-4931-9953-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Jewish Publication Society Bible, copyright © 1917, 1964, 1978, 1985. All rights reserved.

Rev. date: 04/28/2014

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Contents

Preface

Tales of Faith

A Prescription for Life

A Tale of True Love, the Son of a Sage, and a Princess

The Right Medicine

Blind Men and Faith

Emperor Hadrian and His Desire To Be Worshiped as a God

He Is the Healer of the Brokenhearted

How to Carry a Stone Heart

Life Has a Plain Wrapper

Like a Rose Among the Thorns

Passover, Smugglers, and Guards

The Prophet Elijah and the Three Sons Who Watched in the Garden

The Bundle of Arrows

The Carpenter

The Debtors

The Fiery Tree

The Holy Man, the Blacksmith, and Philmont

The Innkeeper’s Reward

The Island

The King and Wall

The New Fabric and Faith

The Rabbi and the Sheikh

The Reward

The Shabbos Candles: A Light of Faith

The Storekeeper and the Thieves

The Treasure

The Flawed Stone

Wealth: Money or Faith?

Wisdom and Partnership

Friendship

The King and the Storm

Man Should Honor and Keep Friends

A Tale of True Friendship

The True Friend

Prayer

Blessings for Not So Good and Blessings for Good

He Is the Healer of the Brokenhearted

Prayer: A Matter of Life and Death

Prayer and Comfort: Nachamu Nachamu Ami

Prayer and the Safe

Prayers from the Heart

A Poor Boy’s Blessings at Sea

The Deaf Man of the Shul

The Prayer of the Religious Man and the General

The Price of Shema

The Shepherd, His Flute, and His Prayer

The Shepherd’s Flute

Wolves and Prayer

Justice for All Nations

The Parable of the Two Precious Stones

The Son of Esau and the Son of Jacob

A True and Righteous Judgment

Listening and Justice

Holiness, Tellers, and Nature

Torah: The Best Merchandise

Torah/Scriptures More Valuable than Wealth

A Story about the Book of Genesis

A Pile of Dust

Story of Rest and Refreshment

And Whoever Elaborates on the Story Is Praised

The Torn Leaf

A Fair Price

The Holy Water Carrier

The Rasha, the Chacham, and the Snake

Good Fortune and Bad Fortune

The Treasure of the Heart

A Turn of the Tongue

A Woman of Valor Who Can Find?

A Bird Shall Carry the Voice

The Students Who Wanted to See Moshiach

The Worst of Curses

The Raven and the Eagle

No One Understood

Women, Wisdom, and Happiness

Kochava, the Wonder Child

An Apple from the Tree of Life

The Magic Pomegranate Seeds

The Iron Wedding Necklace

The Princess

Glossary

Index of Sources

To my children Benyomin, Shoshanah, and Yosef May they weave their stories, and may the tales ultimately end with peace.

Through the years, I have shared stories with countless people who have found warmth, comfort, and healing inside of the tales. Every time the stories are told, the eyes of the listener light up as though they are the only one hearing the stories. They ask me to retell stories over and over again, and their smiles tell me that they have found comfort and peace (shalom) within the stories.

Preface

Stories have touched the hearts, minds, and souls of people since the beginning of time. For this reason they have been used continuously for millennia. Too many people stop with Bible stories and have forgotten the art and skill of spiritual storytelling. A holy man once said, I came to teach you Scriptures but you understood it not, therefore I will tell you stories. Spiritual storytelling always has an underlying purpose, which is to inspire people with faith and communicate wisdom and values.

Storytelling is an ancient art. The storyteller’s stories passed down lessons of faith, history, and language from one generation to another. The mystery, magic, and excitement of spiritual stories stimulate the listener and encourage critical thinking skills. Spiritual stories better explain holidays, ethics, history, and the lifecycle while creating an atmosphere to strengthen spiritual identity.

Spiritual stories and storytelling play an important role in most if not all spiritual traditions, religions, and cultures. The spiritual wisdom of our ancestors was shared by the storyteller from generation to generation.

Stories have the power of exciting the listener through stimulation of the imagination. Spiritual storytelling communicates directly to our soul and affects us on a subtle and often unconscious level. Spiritual stories are easier to remember than dogma, philosophy, or spiritual tenets.

I began the Story Tour blog in 2008 as a way to share the short spiritual stories with the many people who flocked to hear the tales told by my father when he was a chaplain at the Philmont Scout Ranch. Every night people would come to listen to Rabbi Rock as he stirred the memory and sparked the heart and soul of everyone.

Unlike the intricately reasoned sermons of a congregational rabbi, this maggid (spiritual storyteller) uses many long forgotten parables and stories to raise the spiritual awareness of the listener. Rabbi Tobesman takes the listeners on a journey to another time and place the spirit has traveled.

The very backdrop to this maggid’s stories is attractive to its listeners, allowing one to peek into the beliefs and lifestyles of a vanishing age of a faraway world and reminding them that the messages are eternal—just as strong today as they were yesterday.

Shoshanah Tobesman

Founder-Story Tour

2013

Tales of Faith

A Prescription for Life

It is told that the king became enraged at a certain wise physician and gave orders to his guards to put him in prison in a place that was as narrow as the grave. At his order they put chains on the doctor and an iron collar on his neck. At the royal command they stripped him of his clothes and dressed him in rags and tatters made of the coarsest wool. The king ordered that the doctor be given some barley bread with a spoonful of salt and a pitcher of water each day. The king further commanded the prison guards to listen to his words and report them to him. For this doctor was very wise and said nothing that was not full of wisdom.

The doctor stayed in prison for a very long time without saying a word, keeping silent the whole time. In due course the king commanded the family and friends of the doctor to visit him in prison and talk to him, for maybe he would speak to them. So they went to him and said,

Good Master, we see your distress in this prison where you are chained and shackled at your neck and legs, and how you are scarcely dressed. You are hungry and thirsty and are defenseless and surrounded by all this suffering. Yet we are surprised at your bright face that has not changed, you have not grown lean, and you are as strong as ever!

The doctor looked at them for a moment or two and answered,

I took seven drugs with me and mixed them together; and from them, I have made myself a medicine of which I drink a little every day. That is what has kept me strong and unchanged.

Tell us what those drugs are, they said, and if any one of us should suffer such terrible torments as these, we shall make a medicine of them so that he should not perish.

The first drug, he said, "is faith in the Holy One, blessed be He, who can deliver me from many evils and troubles, and He will deliver me from these and from the king, as it says in the Book of Proverbs (21:1): ‘Streams of water and the heart of the king are in the hand of the Lord to turn whichever way He desires.’

"The second drug is hope.

"The third drug is my knowledge that my sin caused this and I was trapped by my indiscretion and I was the cause. That being so, why should I complain?

"The fourth drug is if I do not wait patiently, what shall I do instead? Is there any other choice? If the king decrees that I must die, why should I die before my time?

"The fifth drug is I know that it is for my own benefit that the Holy One, blessed be He, causes me to suffer in order to remove my sins in this world so that I may enjoy life in the world to come.

"The sixth drug is I rejoice in my portion and give thanks and offer praises on account of it, since I might have been in even greater distress. Though I am chained and shackled, it might have been worse, for they could have beaten me with whips or other torments. If I have barley bread to eat, it would have been possible not to receive bread at all, neither of wheat nor even of barley. They give me a measure of water, but they might not have given me any water at all. Though my garb is of coarsest wool, they could have left me naked.

And the seventh drug is I know that the salvation of the Lord can come in the twinkling of an eye since He is gracious and merciful, long suffering and full of kindness and truth to him who can repent of wrongdoing; and He, may He be blessed, will deliver me from my distress and settle with my foes.

A Tale of True Love, the Son of a Sage, and a Princess

The Jewish way of life is filled with wonder, beauty, and love. So many times people become so involved in the mechanics of the religion we call Judaism that they lose sight of the warmth, excitement, and enjoyment of life. To be Jewish you must commit yourself completely as it says in the Torah and we say every day in the Shema, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:4).

To be Jewish is not to blindly follow a religion, it is to live and experience life. To see and feel the world around us as we go about our daily lives. Being Jewish is a lifestyle that enables us to see the world in a holy context. The most mundane of tasks becomes part of our service. Everything can be raised to a higher level. As we go about our daily lives we unravel mysteries that can only be seen through faith and belief.

Many search for meaning in their faith and expect an epiphany or a great sign to show them the way. They become so intent on the search they don’t see, feel, hear, or experience the many things in their everyday life that speak of great faith. Love is a powerful element in faith. Love of God, love of family, love of fellow man, and love of all creatures and the very creation surround us everywhere. We just need to seize the opportunity.

The wife of a rabbi was barren. One night in a dream, the rabbi saw an angel who told him that his wife would bear him a son. And so it came to pass. But on the day following the birth of his son, the rabbi had to go on a long journey. Before he left, the rabbi instructed his wife to teach the child, whose name would be Shlomo, to read and write. And, indeed, the woman did as her husband had instructed her, and the boy learned much; and when he was fifteen years old, he was more learned than his father who was a great sage.

One day the boy climbed onto the roof of their house, and suddenly an eagle flew over the roof and snatched the boy with its great talons. The eagle took the boy in its flight to a city in which not one Jewish person lived. And the eagle put the boy down in the king’s garden. When the boy awoke, he found himself in a strange garden. The servants of the palace saw him, and they took him to the king who wanted to know how he had come there.

Who are you? the king asked him.

I am the son of a rabbi, he told them.

I have expelled all the Jewish people from my country, the king said to him. But I will let you stay with me, for it is Holy One, blessed be He, who has brought you here.

But I cannot live here without other Jewish people, the boy said.

For your sake I will permit all the Jewish people to return, the king said to him. Let them live here together with you.

And the king kept his promise and allowed a number of Jewish families to return to the city. They built themselves a synagogue, and the lad sat in it from morning till night, studying the holy words of Torah.

Now this king had an only daughter, and as the boy’s room was just beneath that of the princess, she would listen to his voice as he studied night after night. The princess did not know anything about Jewish people and their ways, and she used to ask herself, Why does this young man read without a pause day and night?

One day she could no longer restrain herself. It was just after midnight when she rose and went to the door of the boy’s room. At first she tried to speak to him, but he did not even answer her for he thought that it was a spirit that was speaking to him. He began to utter the Holy Name until the princess left the threshold of his room and went up to the dome of the roof. There she found one of the servants and she told him about the boy who did not wish to speak to her. Who is this young man who does not even wish to speak to me? she complained.

The servant went down to the boy’s room to speak to him of the girl who had stood on the threshold of his room. The Jewish boy asked her pardon saying that he had thought the young girl was a spirit. Had I known she was a princess I would gladly have replied to her, the boy added.

So the princess returned to the boy’s room and said to him: I wish to learn the things that you are studying. And also I would like to know why you study so much.

The boy replied, The Jewish people engage in the study of the Torah so that we may be found worthy of the resurrection of the dead and of the world to come.

If that is the case, then I too wish to study and to observe the laws of your religion, the princess said. And so every night the princess