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Dishonesty and Holiness
(The Phony Guru and the Godly)

This comes from a Hebrew teaching institute called Ohr Somayach - roughly translating, Delightful Light - based in Jerusalem (Israel). It speaks of young Jewish people discovering religion but it teaches higher consciousness, and brings light to a crucial universal principle.

As is common among Israeli youth after completing army service, a
brother and sister went to travel in India. Interested in observing one
of the Jewish holidays while away from home, the brother contacted a
Jewish organization there. He enjoyed his experience so much that he
started attending classes until he decided to return to Israel to
enroll in a yeshiva. In the meantime, his sister became inspired by a
charismatic guru who spoke about the cosmic unity of the universe and
other tantalizing spiritual ideas. Eventually she returned to Israel
for a short visit to the family.

Her brother pleaded and pleaded with her to explore Judaism, until
finally, toward the end of her visit, she agreed to attend a lecture on
the deeper spiritual side of Judaism. Once there, the organizer
apologized that the intended speaker couldn't make it, and announced
that he would talk about the laws of returning lost objects instead.
The brother couldn't believe it. His sister finally agreed to listen to
something that might interest her in Judaism, and now she had to sit
through this anything but "tantalizing" topic. He determined that she
just must not have the merit of hearing what she needs to hear yet.
Uninspired, the sister returned to India and her guru.

After some time, she was walking with him through the market when he
happened upon a wallet full of money – and identifying documents.
Amazed to see him so contently pocket the wallet, she asked whether he
intended to return it to its rightful owner since there was ID in the
wallet. The guru launched into a lofty discourse on the universality of
energy and how he and the owner really share the same soul divided into
separate bodies and that in order to maintain celestial equilibrium and
harmony he must keep the wallet for himself.

When she heard this spiritual sanction for stealing she recalled the
"boring, irrelevant" lecture that she had "mistakenly" attended with
her brother about the Torah's detailed legal requirement to return lost
objects. At that moment she decided to pick up a lost Jewish soul she
found in India and return it to its Rightful Owner. She took the next
plane back to Israel and enlisted in a women's seminary for Jewish
learning.

 

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