A Book is a Man's Best Friend

Parshas Bereshis

A Book is a Man's Best Friend

By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer


“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
– Groucho Marx

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
― Charles W. Eliot

In addition to the above quotes about just how wonderful books can be, here are 10 reasons why books truly are man’s best friend:
~ They don't question us
~ They make us forget our troubles
~ They are always there for us
~ They make us a better person
~ They make us smarter
~ They are non-judgmental
~ We can travel with them anywhere in the world
~ They change our perspective towards life
~ We can throw them across the room if we don’t like something they said.
~ Even when we’re being quarantined, we can always have a book with us.

Books are more patient than most people and they understand us. They allow us to feel our emotions and they teach us that it's okay to feel sad sometimes; after all, we are humans. Also, just like our best friends, good books cheer-up our mood and soothe the soul, sometimes even making us laugh out loud.

Now that we see how wonderful a “secular” book can be, imagine just how much more amazing and powerful a book of Torah content, or sefer, can be, when you add in the spiritual element.

Take the Tana”ch (Bible), for example - the best-selling book in history after Harry Potter. Just think about this one Book and how it has changed lives and history itself. The Bible truly is Mankind’s Best Friend.

This idea that “a book is a man’s best friend” explains a strange Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (Ethics of our Fathers) 1:6 where Yehoshua ben Perachyah teaches: “Buy a friend for yourself”.

Buy a friend? Who ever heard of buying a friend? It’s like: ‘Please be my friend .. I’ll give you fifty bucks!”

In a novel interpretation, Rashi views the instruction to “buy” a friend as a reference to purchasing books of Torah content. Books are friends you can purchase.

[It is interesting to note that Rabbi Dr. Joseph Dov Ha-Levi Soloveitchik ZT”L (1903-1993), the great Talmudic scholar and philosopher, spiritual leader of Modern Orthodox Judaism, and Rosh Yeshivah (Dean) of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York City, recalled that while growing up in Poland in the early 1900’s the only “friend” he had during most of his childhood was the sefer Mishneh Torah of the Ramba”m (Maimonides’ classic 14-volume work codifying all of Jewish law), which, in his words, was “a constant guest in our home”.]

Speaking of books and the Bible… it’s that time of year again just after the Festival of Succos when we start reading the Bible publicly in the synagogue from the very beginning. One of the fundamental tenets of Judaism, and a main theme of this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Bereishis, is the creation of Man, with body and soul.

As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes in his Handbook of Jewish Thought (Volume Two):

One of the foundations of our faith is the belief in the immortality of the soul, and in life after death. Man shares physio-chemical life processes with animals, and on the physical plane is indistinguishable from them. We therefore speak of man having an "animal soul" (Nefesh HaBehamis) which is contained in the blood, i.e. in the physio-chemical life processes. Regarding this soul, the Torah says, "The life-force of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11).

In addition to his material self, however, man possesses a soul which is unique among all of G-d's creations. In describing the creation of Adam, the Torah says, "G-d formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils a soul-breath of life (Nishmas Chaim). Man [thus] became a living creature (Nefesh Chayah)" (Genesis 2:7).

The Torah is thus stating quite clearly that Man consists of both body and soul together as one. However, there are many who deny the existence of the soul, especially due to the fact that the soul can’t be seen, unlike the body which we can touch and feel. (Of course, you can’t see gravity either, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist!)

The “Big Question” then is do we have a soul or not? And there are many important life-changing ramifications to this question, as you can well imagine.

I have found different approaches among Jews as to how to deal with this important existential question:

Some Jews continue to keep their heads in the sand, ignoring the question and hoping it will go away (I guess this works for some people).

Still others believe in the existence of the soul based on a carefully preserved tradition that was handed down to them through the centuries and millennia (tradition is good) and there are some philosophical proofs as well.

Many, especially in the scientific community, categorically deny the very existence of the soul (how can they be so sure?) and life after death and the World to Come, because it doesn’t fit in with science (that’s Science with a capital “S”) and the so-called “Laws of Nature”.

Well, guess what, folks? I would like to introduce you to a good “friend” of mine who might be able to help you with some answers to this troubling question:

My friend is a brand-new book named: A Jewish Guide to the Mysterious (written by Pinchas Taylor; published by Mosaica Press 2020.)

In this amazing book, my friend discusses many “mysteries” from a Jewish perspective (all with highly researched and extensive footnotes from both Torah and secular sources), including dreams, astrology, angels, demons, ghosts, the afterlife, reincarnation, magic, mysticism, and much more …

One of the many fascinating chapters in the book deals with Near-Death Experiences [NDE’s] and provides various proofs for the existence of the soul.

At the end of this amazing chapter, the author Pinchas Taylor writes: “Near-Death Experiences alone are not proof for the existence and survival of the soul, but the accumulated anecdotes, when examined closely, support the concept of a realm beyond this one; that there is more to reality than what the five senses perceive in this physical existence.”

He then quotes Dr. Bruce Greyson, a prominent researcher of NDE’s, who writes: “At the very least, near-death experiences should foster spiritual growth by leading us to question some of our basic assumptions about mind and brain, about our relationship to the divine, and about the universe and our role in it.”

I highly recommend that you take Rashi’s advice and buy this friend now (no, I don’t get a commission on each book sold!). You won’t regret it!

http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=636

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