In the Jewish tradition, a person who tells stories about stories in the Torah is called a Darshanim. His own story about a story in the Torah was called a Midrash, or a Midrash Haggadah (parable or anecdote). Such a person interpreted biblical narratives and ideas and was an explorer of ethics, theology, and a creater of homilies and parables based on biblical texts. 

 

I thought I might be a Darshanim since I first heard the word, and I have always considered my writings to be a Midrash.

 

From: The Apology of the Preacher

- By Abn Allah Ben Saber, 1650

 

"There were wandering Darshanim

who traveled from one town to another,

often because of persecution or adverse economic conditions,

rather than by invitation

 

"Thus, the visiting Darshanim had to apologize

with much humor, self-deprecation, and flowery expressions

to gain the sympathy of the congregation

especially the local Hakimim (wise men)."

 

Consider this my apology. . . .

 

I have never exclusively focused on the Teachings

said to be given to Moses by Yahweh at Mount Sinai (the Torah),

rather,  I swim in that great ocean,

of the now gathered together in the same room

of our consideration for the first time in history, 

the Great Traditions of Religion and Spirituality.

They are my Torah,

and I spin like a wheel around their hub

 

I am a religious studies scholar

and have studied the Talmud (the compilation of religious wisdom),

 not merely of believers, philosophers, and enthusiasts,

but those of the Realized Teachers of the world;

those who know by experience of what they speak,

those who became One with the God or Reality

of their beliefs.

 

I have been interested in religious traditions 

since I was a little boy.

I  read the great commentators and teachers,

but I fell in love with the Realizers,

 Saints, Sages, Siddhas;

the 'Crazy Wise' men and women of the world.

 

These were not 'pipe-smoking philosophers';

the lives they lived and the stories they told 

revealed the constant Miracle,

the mysterious Infinity of everything,

their non-preference regarding all conditions

and the humor of everyday living.

 

 They embodied what they spoke of.

 The tales they told were Radical and went to the root.

Their Presence in the world changed my life

and the lives of others. ​

 

As for my own life,

along with what I thought was a spiritual practice,

I tasted everything,

 sexuality, money, food, possessions.

 Like an explorer, I indulged;

visiting exotic people, places, customs, and practices,

adventuring in foreign lands and practices,

and like everything I experienced,

it did not make a difference.

 

Here are some of the 'jewels' I carried back:

Here are a few stories that share what I found,

here is my Midrash Haggadah . . . the

tales and essays of ideas I have come across,

people I have met, sights I have seen and 

mistakes I made.

 

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the winds of grace

that filled and still fill my sails. ​