In his collection of folk tales and nuggets filled with earthy wisdom, “The Prayer of the Frog” Anthony de Mello has included the story of a Rabbi’s visit to a small town in Russia.
The people of this town were all excited about the Rabbi’s visit for they knew that it was something rare and they looked forward to the holy man’s wisdom which they hoped would ease their suffering and their hard lives. So for weeks before he arrived, individuals reflected on what they would like to speak with him about, the questions they would like to pose and so on. They could hardly wait for the Rabbi to answer their urgent queries.
The Rabbi finally arrived and stood before the entire congregation in the town hall which had been spruced up for his visit. He sensed immediately, that the atmosphere was charged and that the people could hardly wait to start questioning him.
The rabbi however, said nothing. He stood silently before the congregation for quite a while. After what seemed like ages, he started slowly, to hum. Almost imperceptibly, the people around him began to softly hum. In a while the entire congregation was humming.
The Rabbi then began to sing and the entire congregation sang alongside. The rabbi followed this by beginning to move in a slow and measured sort of way, moving his hands and his head and his legs, turning slowly, around and around. The people followed suit.
They moved and danced in this fashion for a long time. Nobody knew any more, how long. Their entire attention was focussed on their movements, and on the singing. And so the minutes and the hours passed. The people became so absorbed in the dance they were performing together that without their realising it they were healed by the truth of being whole. The fragmentation that had caused their illness was a thing of the past.
Gradually, the dance came to an end. When the tension had been completely eased, everyone sat down. The rabbi looking at the peaceful faces around him, uttered the only words he had spoken the entire evening.
“I trust I have answered your questions?” he said.
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