Book Review

Stories from the Heart
By Miriam Caravella and Wayne Caravella
Publisher: New Delhi: Science of the Soul Research Centre, 2024.
ISBN 978-81-977757-7-2

Human beings love to tell stories, and we love to listen to them. It’s part of our nature to communicate through storytelling. According to the authors of this book,

Stories invite us into them. We don’t simply listen to a story; we become the story…. Humans are storytelling animals. From the moment we awake to the moment we go to sleep, our primary means of communication is the story. Our stories define us, instruct us, create us. Without our stories, we do not exist…. For us, our story is our self.

Most of the stories in this book are from the Hasidic tradition, a religious movement within Judaism. These tales were passed on orally through many generations. Like most good stories, these are easy to understand and relate to because they deal with problems and issues that all of us face as we live our lives.

Hasidism originated in Ukraine in the 18th century as part of a movement that responded to the lack of spirituality in modern life. Focusing on the needs of the common people, the Hasidic teachers, known as rabbis, rebbes, or zaddiks, emphasized devotion and prayer, rather than religious law and learning. They sought ways to convey spiritual teachings not only to the learned but also to simple people, and one of these methods was folk tales and spiritual stories. The authors write,

One can say that storytelling is at the heart of Hasidism…. According to Hasidic philosophy, a person hearing a religious teaching may be impressed by its truth, but a tale about someone actually fulfilling the teaching motivates the listener to action. The teachings explain what to do; the stories show that someone in fact did it.

The rabbis were believed to channel divine energy from God. According to the authors, “The idea is that in every generation, there are righteous persons through whom divinity flows to the material world.” Before the start of Hasidism, awareness of the mystical nature of Judaism had largely been confined to the learned; through simple storytelling the rabbis sought to reveal it to common people as well.

Inspiration for the stories often came from the Bible – such as the Ten Commandments, tales of creation, and divine laws. Though the stories are set amidst mundane, everyday life, they convey profound spiritual teachings on themes like humility, divine providence, ethical behaviour, hospitality toward strangers, the duty to serve God in every aspect of one’s life, and the faith to surrender to God in all situations.

For example, in the story “Just Do It,” a man didn’t know how to stop sinning, so he went to his rabbi for help. The rabbi had a very practical solution for him:

A man who had done bad things his whole life, realizing that he did not have much longer to live, decided to go to the rebbe and confess his sins and seek forgiveness. “I have been a lifelong sinner,” said the man. “I have done many bad things and hurt many people. Now I want to stop my sinful ways and repent for my sins.”

“So go ahead and repent – what’s stopping you?” asked the rebbe.

The man was surprised and confused. “But, rebbe,” said the man. “I don’t know how to repent. That is why I came to you, so you could teach me!”

“Well, may I ask who taught you how to sin?” asked the rebbe.

“Nobody taught me,” the man replied, “I just did it.”

“So now you think you need a teacher to teach you how to repent?” the rebbe replied. “Like sinning, just do it!”

Hasidic tales abound in humour and cleverness. In the story “Buttered-Side Down,” we see the people of the village of Chelm excited to know whether an event was a miracle from God or a more practical matter having to do with the scientific laws of physics. The wise men of the village in the end attribute the episode to neither God nor science, but, irrationally, to the fault of an individual. This story demonstrates another characteristic of Jewish culture at the time – poking fun at oneself, thus encouraging beneficial introspection and reflection.

Shlomo, Chelm’s one and only baker, was enjoying his breakfast of fresh bread and butter when by accident he hit the plate and his freshly buttered slice of bread went flying onto the floor. Oh no, he thought, my bread is spoiled. However, to his amazement, when he looked down, he saw that his bread had landed buttered-side up! How is this possible, he thought? Everyone knows that bread, when dropped by accident on the floor, always lands buttered-side down. It is an unwritten law of physics! This is a mystery, he thought. Perhaps it is a sign from God? A miracle, a revelation announcing some important upcoming event! I must tell the rabbis what has happened!

So Shlomo ran and informed the rabbis of this mysterious event. They in turn convened a meeting with the twelve wise men of Chelm. For three days they remained in the synagogue praying, reading scriptures for insight, and debating among themselves. The entire village could talk about nothing else except the mystery of the falling bread. After three days the rabbis and wise men emerged from their discussions and announced they had the answer to the mystery. They asked all the villagers of Chelm to assemble. They called Shlomo in front of the crowd. “Shlomo,” they said, “after great debate we have determined that there is no mystery or miracle, but rather, the problem is that you have buttered the wrong side of the bread!”

The story “Sharpening the Axe” offers a deep lesson on how best to fulfil worldly obligations:

Once upon a time, two men went into the forest to chop wood. One man worked all day without stopping except for a brief lunch break. The other man took many breaks throughout the day and even had a short nap after lunch. At the end of the day, the man who had worked continuously was upset to see that his companion had chopped much more wood than he had. “I simply cannot understand it,” said the first man. “Every time I looked up you were sitting down, taking a break!” The other man replied, “I guess you didn’t notice that every time I took a break, I sharpened my axe.”

If we view this from a spiritual perspective, it points out how the calm, focus, and positive attitude we achieve through meditation sharpens our mental axe, making our daily work much more productive.

Spiritual stories can guide us as we try to lead a spiritual, ethical and moral life. They make us reflect upon ourselves, even laugh at our human foibles, thus helping us remain positive and balanced. They can awaken us to profound spiritual truths hard to absorb in any other way. Weaving a thread through all cultures, such stories remind us of the divine presence that permeates our daily lives.

As one great Hasidic storyteller, Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlov, said, “Others think that tales are a good remedy to put one to sleep; I maintain that stories are useful to awaken people.”