The Rabbi and The SoapMaker

From 9 Nov 2007
I read this story this morning. It is so cool, I wanted to share it.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
The Book of James 1:27

"A rabbi and a soap maker went for a walk together. The soap maker had some negative things to say about religion: "What good is religion? Just look around you. What do you see? Trouble, misery, wars - even after all these years and years of preaching and teaching about goodness, truth, peace. What good is religion with all its prayers and sermons if all this evil still exists?
The rabbi kept quiet as they continued their walk. Then they noticed a child playing in the gutter. The child was just filthy with dirt and mud. The rabbi said to the soap maker: "Look at this child! Now you say that soap makes people clean, but what good is it? With all the soap in the world this child is still dirty. What good is soap after all?"
The soap maker immediately answered him: "But rabbi, soap can’t do its job if it isn’t used!"
The rabbi said, "The same is true with religion."
There must be a twofold purpose of every Torah (Bible): One is to teach the Word of G-d for your personal obedience. The second purpose is to impart knowledge of the Word of G-d so that you might be able to teach others.