Reb Zushe - I don’t have anything difficult in my life

 The story is told about a follower of the great Rabbi Dovber, the “Maggid” or the Rebbe, of the Ukrainian town of Mezritch. The saintly Rabbi (who passed away in 1772) was the second leader of the Chassidic movement. The follower who came for a visit was poor, lived a troubled life, and struggled with maintaining a positive demeanor and attitude, and constantly worried about his plight in the unrelenting poverty and other challenges of Eastern Europe.

The Rebbe, the great Maggid, directed the poor man to the Ukrainian village of Anipoly, home of a star student of his, Reb Zushe, to receive guidance and direction in the art of being satisfied with his lot.

The man duly arrived at Reb Zushe’s home, and it was not a pretty sight. The residence was not much more than a rundown hovel at the edge of the town. A few rickety chairs around a very old table were the only pieces of furniture in this shack. The walls were wobbly, and the roof leaked. It was hard to imagine people living there. Poverty screamed from every corner of this shanty. I personally visited this village recently, and running water is still absent there. Some of the homes in this village seem to match the one in our story…

After spending a day or two in the presence of Reb Zushe, the follower shared with his host that he had been sent at the Rebbe’s suggestion, to learn how to deal with difficult situations. “Oh,” said Reb Zushe, “it is such a great honor that the venerable Rebbe thought of me. I just don’t quite understand why the Rebbe would send you to me to learn how to deal with difficulty when I don’t have anything difficult in my life to deal with?”

"now that your future is assured, what about mine?"

 Cyril was 80 years old and was visiting his psychiatrist. "Doctor, I'm suffering from a lot of anxiety. What's going to happen to me? I'm very worried about my future." "Cyril," said the doctor, "don't worry, I can help you. All you need do is come and see me twice a week for the next 3 months. My charges will be $100 a visit and you'll need to pay in advance, of course." "Okay doctor," said Cyril, "now that your future is assured, what about mine?"

Gratitude

Two old friends met each other on the street one day.  One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears.  His friend asked, ?What has the world done to you, my old friend??

The sad fellow said, ?Let me tell you:  three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.?
?That?s a lot of money.?
?But you see, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars, free and clear.?
?Sounds to me that you?ve been very blessed.?
?You don?t understand!? he interrupted.  ?Last week my great-aunt passed away.  I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her.?
Now the man?s friend was confused.  ?Then, why do you look so glum??
?This week . . . nothing!?

The comedian

A man once came to a psychologist and complained that the pressures of life were so terrific that he
was battling depression and even suicidal tendencies. The psychologist replied that there is a comedy
club down the road that features a comedian so funny and joyful that no matter how depressed you
are, this comedian will lift you up.
That is all fine and good, replied the patient, but there is one problem. The comedian who is meant to
lift me up. . . is none other than me!

Check Out My Room

By Dov Peretz Elkins - Chabad.org A prominent rabbi of Newton, Massachusetts, attended a housewarming party at a large, beautiful home in his wealthy suburb of Boston. Guests oohed and ahhed, checking out every unusual piece of furniture, every exotic light fixture, every imported piece of handcrafted art, the thick azure carpets, the golden hand-carved door handles both inside and outside, and on and on and on. During the course of the evening, the homeowners related to their guests that they had paid the highest fee for their interior decorator, but it was worth every penny. The results were astonishing. Every decision, down to the last window treatment, was just impeccable. They could not have been more pleased. “This,” they declared, in contrast to how most people thought a home should be furnished, “is interior decorating.” About an hour passed, and the elderly mother of the hostess, who lived with her daughter and son-in-law, asked her rabbi friend to come upstairs and take a look at her room. Having left the posh living room and dining room of this large, magnificently appointed and lavish home, the elderly woman opened the door of her upstairs bedroom and pointed her finger toward the windowsill. When the rabbi looked, he was astounded at what he saw. The woman did not point, as the daughter did, to any of the furniture or decorations of the room. She pointed only to the windowsill, toward a row of charity boxes, pushkes, one for every worthwhile cause imaginable. There were boxes for hospitals, yeshivot (religious schools), orphanages, battered women’s shelters, homes for children who were blind or deaf, funds for the handicapped—you name it! One for every single Jewish institution she could find that distributed charity boxes for people to drop coins in and return when full. Before modern methods of fundraising took hold, these small charity boxes “decorated” kitchen windows in every traditional Jewish home. “Now, Rabbi,” said the elderly woman, gazing proudly at her windowsill filled with charity boxes—“this is interior decorating!”

Sir Benjy takes a holiday

Benjy had done very well in business. He was a multi-millionaire and had
been knighted by the Queen for his endeavours. One day, after completing yet
another very successful business deal, he decided on the spur-of-the-moment
to take his wife Sadie to Israel. He asked his secretary Carol to make the
arrangements.
Carol rang the Tel Aviv Dan hotel and asked to speak to the manager.
“I am happy to inform you that Sir Benjy and his wife have chosen to stay at
the Dan next week. But as they are very wealthy and require total privacy,
they would need to book the entire hotel for their stay. Money is not a
problem. Can you set this up?”

The manager didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I can move all guests to a sister hotel.”

Carol then asked, “Is there a private beach?”
“Yes.”
“What colour is the sand?” asked Carol.
“Silver,” came the reply.
“Well that will be a problem as Sir Benjy always insists on golden sand.”
“OK. I can get round it,” said the manager. “There’s a quarry nearby and I
will arrange for golden sand to be laid on the beach.”
“And finally,” said Carol, “Sir Benjy prefers a blue sky without a cloud in
it. Is the weather going to be perfect next week?”
“No problem,” said the manager, “I will get the Israeli Air Force to seed
the clouds and so disperse them.”
The following week, there was Benjy and Sadie sunbathing on the wide expanse
of the private beach of the Dan hotel. Benjy looked all around him and said,
“Sadie, just look how beautiful everything is. We have privacy, there is not
a sound coming from the hotel, the sand is beautifully clean and golden and
the sky is so blue without a cloud in sight.  Sadie, with all of this, who
needs money?”

A young and very successful executive named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his sleek, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and - WHUMP! - it smashed Into the Jag's shiny black side door! SCREECH!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?!" Building up a head of steam, he went on. "That's my new Jag, that brick you threw is going to cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?"
"Please, mister, please... I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do!" Pleaded the youngster.
“What do you mean? You wild crazy boy,” screamed the executive. “You didn’t know what else to do than through a brick on my Jag?? You will pay dearly for this.
"I threw the brick because no one else would stop!" said the boy. Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother, mister," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's badly hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE -- a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention… Because some bricks are softer than others.
How true. Often we get so caught up in our rat race that we can’t pay heed in a real way to anything really important. A child is begging us to stop and listen – and this may be our own child – but we are so busy.

“How Much Land Does a Man Need?”

It is a story about a greedy man named Pakhom, who becomes obsessed with owning land. Finally he is introduced to a family owning enormous quantities of land who give him an unusual offer: for a sum of one thousand rubles Pakhom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. He has all day to cover by foot as much territory as he would like. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his!
The man is delighted, as he believes that he can cover a great distance and has chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime. At the end of this day he will finally achieve richness.
The man is excited beyond words. These idiots, he thinks, don’t even know how much land they will be forfeiting today. His journey begins. He tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already has. He goes on, more and more and more and more. He begins to run, and run faster and faster, another mile, another mile. In his glittering imagination he sees all this land belonging to him.
As the sun nearly sets, he realizes his error… He covered so much ground from the starting point, but he has to get back to the starting point. Oy vey, only a few minutes left. He runs back as fast as he can to the waiting family. He never ran so swiftly in his life. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. He made it. The family cheers his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, he falls and drops dead. They bury him in an ordinary grave only five feet long… and that is the land he ends up with: 5X2.

The Fisherman

They tell a story of a man who docked his fishing boat at eight in the
morning with the hold half empty. Why did you come in so early, asked a
bystander.
Because I have caught enough to sustain me for the day, replied the
fisherman.
How will you spend the rest of the day?
I will smoke my pipe, relax with my family and enjoy some quiet time.
Why don’t you stay out a little longer and make a little more money?
What would I do with more money?
You could buy another boat, hire someone to run it and make even more money.

And what would I do with that money?
I suppose you could buy more boats and have a fleet; this way you could make
real money.
And what would I do with real money?
Well you could diversify into other lucrative opportunities and really
strike it rich.
And what would I do if I were rich?
I suppose if you really wanted to you could retire early.
And what would I do with an early retirement?
Well, replied the stranger, somewhat flummoxed, you would do whatever you
wanted to do. You could do a little fishing, you could smoke a cigar, enjoy
your family and maybe have some quiet time…..
That, the fisherman replied pointedly, Is what I do already. . .

Give me, Give Me

A member of our community has lots of challenges in his personal andbusiness life. On the top his list of Tzoris is that he is a teenagedaughter (Sheva) who is mentally challenged. She is a functioning girl andcan communicate but challenged none the less.
The family recently went on vacation to Israel for a few weeks. On the lastday of the trip they went back to the Kosel for a last visit. The father(Abba) told the family that this is their last visit to the Kosel for thistrip and so they should go and put a note in the wall for the last time.Abba told me that he put a note in the wall with a long list of all hisrequests to Hashem. Give me this, send me that, help me with this, fix that,etc.
When they came out and the family gathered he asked his daughter Sheva whatshe asked for and she said: "Ask? I didn't ask for anything I wrote toHashem: Thank you for this, and this, and this, etc."
He told me this was the most humbling moment of his life. Here he was at thewall and all he could think of was to ask and ask. And his daughter who isthe one with the actual challenges all she thinks of is to say thank you forwhat she has.

Are You Poor? Do we appreciate everything we have?

Are You Poor? Do we appreciate everything we have?

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yes," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a
river that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go
beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.