Rabbi Berel Wein, some time ago:

"There is a famous hassidic story about a king and his wise adviser who discover that the grain crop of the coming year contains a substance that, when ingested, induces lunacy. Since the kingdom is wholly dependent on the local grain crop for its sustenance there is no escape from consuming this lunacy-inducing grain.

The king initially suggests that he obtain healthy grain for himself, his adviser and their families. But the adviser gently reminds the king that if everyone else in the country is insane and only he and the king remain sane, they will be judged the insane ones.

The king sighs and says, 'You are right. We also will eat from the lunacy-inducing grain to be like everyone else. But let us at least put a mark on our foreheads so that when we look at each other we will realize and be reminded that we are really insane!'

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Yael -- a number of your recent posts have centered on a single theme: The world is going nuts! Readers who wonder how we got to this pass, how the descent into madness began and what it means, can do no better than read Melanie Phillips's new book "The World Turned Upside Down." This is easily the best single volume I've read on our current plight. Mrs. Phillips asks the really vexing questions: How and why did the world-wide Left -- comprising a large number of educated and sophisticated people who consider themselves progressive -- ally itself with the world-wide jihad, which is a retrograde and reactionary movement that would take us back to the 7th century? How and why did the culture of the Left -- which has always prided itself on its rationality and its respect for science -- link arms with know-nothings who believe that earthquakes are caused by immodestly-dressed women? Why and how are the Left and Islam glued together by the same demented obsession: Jew hatred? Mrs. Phillips answers all these questions and many more in a book that is scholarly, judicious, and superbly written. She amply demonstrates that our civilization's descent into madness is no accident. Our culture has for centuries been seeded with substances that induce lunacy.

[Yael]

Mannie, todah RABAH. Based on your recommendation, I've added the book to my new Amazon thaing in the sidebar. Keep 'em coming!

[John]

Hi, I am from Australia. Yes the world is completely insane, and becoming more so every day. And it aint just "them" who are insane. Please check out this essay which gives a very sobering assessment of the state of the world, and how we got to it. http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/reality-humanity.html http://www.dabase.org/not2.htm Plus an an Open Letter written in response to the Kosovo crisis, and reworked in response to Sept 11. http://www.dabase.org/openlett.htm