Sometimes it pays to travel a bit outside of our communities if only to appreciate what we have. That tour can take two forms — actual travel or reading. The purpose is not so that we should feel good about ourselves or complacent about all that we have left to do. Rather it is to gain a feeling of how insane a world without G-d and Torah looks and to appreciate that only through Torah can we live a harmonious existence in sync with the yearnings of the human soul.
The last observation is of course axiomatic: The Torah serves as the blueprint for the entire Creation and as such constitutes the operating manual for man. But theory reinforced by experience has a far greater impact.
An example of what I’m talking about: A few years ago my wife and I traveled toZurich. After many hours in airports and in transit we spotted a young chareidi couple pushing a stroller in theZurichairport. Against that backdrop their refinement and modesty stood out like an oasis in the desert. I sensed that I was seeing for the first time in hours real human beings after a trip to the zoo.
In the virtual realm Professor Leon Kass’s recent Irving Kristol Memorial Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute constitutes a tour of the morass. The late Kristol once described himself as theotropic — i.e. drawn to the divine though he was not fully observant. Kass fits the same description. A doctor and ethicist he has written profoundly on human cloning and stem cell research.
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