The story below comes from an eighteenth-century Hebrew book.

A young man once wanted to become a blacksmith. So he became an apprentice to a blacksmith, and he learned all the necessary techniques of the trade: how to hold the tongs, how to lift the sledge, how to smite the anvil, even how to blow the fire with the bellows. Having finished his apprenticeship, he was chosen to be employed at the smithy of the royal palace. However, the young man’s delight soon came to an end, when he discovered that he had failed to learn how to kindle a spark. All his skill and knowledge in handling the tools were of no avail.

~as found in The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence by Abraham Joshua Heschel

~ Friends, I am taking some time off from posting any new writings. I will keep offering Life-Lines on Mondays and TUESDAYS WITH STORY each week. Keep checking, I will be posting essays again before long. Thank you for visiting THE SACRED BRAID and for reading The Almond Tree. ~ Dan