Keeping Me Jewish

I think it was R' Pinchas of Koretz who used to say, "The Zohar has kept me Jewish." There's no doubt in my mind that for me, it was Reb Shlomo who kept  and continues to keep me Jewish. 

When I first heard R' Shlomo teach years ago at one of those priceless learnings at the Witt home in Yerushalayim, I didn't know how I could go on. While a relentless search and an unquenchable thirst for God had brought me to renew my committment to Judaism, I had, in my first year in Yerushalayim, come under the influence of another twentieth century prophet of our people (though he might resent the appelation)Yeshayahu Leibowitz. From Leibowitz I had learned that to serve God I had to renounce any pleasure, any joy I might feel in carrying out His commandments. Of course it went without saying that the mystical orientation that had fueled my Jewish rebirth had to be renounced as well for a more austere philosophical one. Nebech, the only problem was that I simply didn't want to be observant anymore. Where was the magicthe lovethe energythe depththe miraclesthe holiness?
Hearing R' Shlomo, I met again, yet for the first time, the real Rachel and Leah, the real holy Ba'al Shem. And, against the message I was hearing daily at the yeshiva where I was learning that year, R' Shlomo gave over to me what I had known all along to be true: that we must serve God without holding anything back; that we never know about another person, and his or worth in God's eyes; that our forefathers and foremothers were so, so deep  and that we are all the revelations of their innermost wills, each of us unique and beautiful.

All of us who were close to R' Shlomo are living out our lives along a trajectory that is at once our own, and an expression of a facet of our teacher. People often ask me, "who has taken R' Shlomo's place?" The answer is simply nobody, and all of us together. Some of us are holding up the learning end, some the dovening, some the openness of heart and home. Perhaps all importantly, most of us try to live with our spouses and children with his inspiration. I want to bless our chevre with the strength and courage to live, to learn, to doven, to lovewithout holding back!