8:50am July 1, 2015

“A rich man once came to the Maggid of Koznitz for blessing. ‘What are you in the habit of eating?’ asked the Maggid.
The man replied: ‘I am modest in my demands. Bread and salt, a drink of water, I need no more.’
‘What are you thinking of! You must eat roast meat and drink mead, like all the rich.’ And the rabbi did not let him go until he had promised to change his ways.
Later, to his puzzled chasidim, the Maggid explained: ‘Not until he eats meat will he realize that the poor need bread. As long as he himself eats only bread, he will think the poor can live on stones.’”

—

Hasidic, 18th Century

I think this piece can be commonly found in many siddurs for the Days of Awe, but looking at it during this morning’s service I put it in perspective of the denial I see around me; in that it’s fairly common for those of us with some degree of privilege to falsely humble ourselves in order to say, “look, if I did this, why can’t the less privileged person do the same?” This can be in reference to everything from dietary choices, to education, to overcoming illness. And it’s myopic because it fails to take into consideration every other factor that was in your favor that the other person didn’t have; eating bread like the poor did not make the man in the story poor, nor did it endow him with understanding of their struggles.

(via bride-of-bucky)

I posted this about a year ago and it’s gotten a few reblogs lately so I just remembered and like, I still think it’s true. I think the crux of charity and solidarity is the end result; what have you accomplished by eating only bread despite having access to better food? Did you help another person or your own ego? By the same token, sometimes it helps to lay off and actually see if something is useful before condemning it as feel-good liberal nonsense. The Maggid of Koznitz didn’t get followers by acting more radical-than-thou 24/7.

(via bride-of-bucky)

Notes: