Preparing for the Journey

I am leaving in less than 24 hours for my tour in the US.  Wow!  What a lot of work it is to prepare for a journey.  I had to figure out where I was going and when and what I would be doing each step of the way.  Am I taking one suitcase or two? How much clothing does one REALLY need for 2 weeks?  Balancing sensibility with convenience, I ask, “do I really need THAT?”

Life is a journey that requires no less preparation.  In order to truly enjoy the trip, we need to figure out where we are going and what we will need to get there.  It helps to use past experience to guide us in future decisions, but we also need to realize that things may be different on the road ahead.

When I spoke the other night at a local Yeshiva, one of the boys asked me how, after all the changes I’ve been through in my life, I could know that I have reached my final destination spiritually.  Maybe in another 10 years I’ll be singing yet a different tune…

This question is asked about one in three times I speak.  I don’t know why some audiences ask the question and others don’t, I’m surprised it’s not asked more often.

Unfortunately, this is the one question I dread being asked because it’s the one question I don’t have an answer to.  How can anyone know the future?  I am pretty confident in my faith choices, sure that Judaism is the truth with a capital “T”.  But then again, 10 years ago, I thought that about Christianity, too.

Over the years I’ve found that honesty is always the best policy, especially when speaking with teenagers.  Better to admit that I don’t know than to give a confident but shallow answer that is easily seen through or torn apart.  So, I admit to the audience that I can’t say what the future will hold, but that answer doesn’t sit right with me even as the words leave my lips.

Have you ever taken a vacation and just decided that you were going to drive around the country aimlessly, stopping at whatever catches your interest next?  It’s fun for a while, but eventually you realize that you have to make some real decisions.  How long will you wander?  When will you stop?  What is your final destination?  At some point these questions must be answered, and the correct path must be chosen.

As a person born Jewish, we have already been given a specific path to take.  What stops we make along the way are our own choice, to be sure.  But, nothing is more fulfilling than really knowing where you are going and following it to the ultimate destination.  Learning what it really means to be a Jew, and learning to see the bigger picture makes the journey so much more enjoyable.

A journey can you take you on many adventures, but the best one is the one that takes you home.