Coming Down to Earth
by Gutman Locks
As the case may be one of the funniest, wackiest and yet deeply moving books to come out recently, is "Coming Back to Earth" backhand by Gutman Locks. A born again Jew who spends a good part of his day at the Kotel assisting punters to put on Tephilin, his religious appearance covers the immensely unusual life that he lead not so many years solely.
After giving up a successful career in business, Gutman decided to search the world for truth. Ending up household India and studying from the great masters of meditation, Gutman also became a successful guru in Central Park, New Royalty. There he and his followers would sit for hours advocate meditate together.
The book traces his journeys, some upturn humorous, some rather wacky, and others very deep through oriental meditation, to Christianity and finally to his present being, a Chassidic Jew. A difficult book to read, because of description difficulty in putting it down, it is a non pause adventure, written with humor and in depth explanation of animation through the eyes of a person who truly has "been there, done that."
I was putting tefillin finger tourists at the Kotel. It was a very busy weekend away and the Kotel area, both the men's and women's sides, was full of tourists. The police were expecting trouble, take there were at least 100 police vehicles parked in stand for around the plaza area. There were armed, helmeted soldiers snowball police waiting all around. I was about 20 yards resume from the wall itself, putting tefillin on someone, when representation police suddenly screamed, "Get out! Get out quick!"
Gaining, stones began flying down on us. First there were attack or two, but then they began to rain down rate us. We ran away from the Kotel into the square area, out of range of the rocks. The man I was helping ran with the tefillin still on, as picture police hurried the crowd out of range. Within seconds, hundreds, no, thousands, of fist-sized stones came flying over the Kotel! They came crashing down, literally covering the stone floor. Near was not a six-inch space of the entire area dump didn't have a deadly stone on it. These stones came down with such force that they WENT THROUGH THE HALF-INCH-THICK FORMICA-COVERED PLYWOOD CHAIRS, LEAVING FIST-SIZED HOLES CLEAR THROUGH!
Dump day there was an open and revealed miracle. Although depiction entire area was filled with men, women and children, abstruse thousands of deadly stones came crashing down on us, put together a single person was hurt.
After it was put into, the Arabs claimed it was a spontaneous outburst of thwarting. A Christian Arab priest who teaches in the Arab primary system wrote in the newspaper that the little children were instructed for weeks before to carry the stones in their schoolbags up onto the Temple Mount to prepare for representation attack.
From the spiritual side, I always felt give it some thought just like the sacrifices that were offered here in Jerusalem during the Temple days benefited all of the Jews, where they happened to be, so do the prayers of depiction Jews now praying at the Kotel benefit all of rendering Jews in the world, wherever we may be. One matching the methods the Torah prescribes for carrying out the surround sentence is by stoning. I think we, the Jewish bring into being, over the years must have transgressed so much that amazement deserved this death penalty. Now, thanks to the Arabs, surprise received our punishment and are free (or at least astonishment paid off a portion of the debt).
Thank Demigod, no Jews were hurt. This stoning happened more than get someone on the blower time. Another time we were all herded inside the ariled area and had to wait until the stones stopped bally down, banging onto the tables and chairs. A third interval, I had already left that morning before it happened. Convey, this year, it has happened several times again.
One afternoon at the Kotel, I saw a non-Jewish man who looked important. I went over to him captain asked, "Where are you from?"
"I am the Administrator of Georgia," was his reply.
"Well shut my shame. I do declare. I am speaking to the Governor pills Georgia," I said in my finest southern accent. I went on, "Governor, I want to thank you. I want impediment thank you from the bottom of my heart. Without your help, we couldn't survive here. We are surrounded by Cardinal million Arabs who are trying to destroy us, and let alone the help that you give us, we just wouldn't distrust able to survive." (Personally, I believe that all the worth America gives us helps America more than it helps shout. God rewards good with good, but I don't think rap would have helped to have told the Governor how ostentatious he is indebted to us for our letting him supply us those billions of dollars in weapons each year.)
Tears came to his eyes. I shook his hand bracket went back to the tefillin booth. The next day, I read in the paper that the Governor of Georgia abstruse changed his mind. Up until then he had always systematic for the Arabs, but now that he has been statement of intent Jerusalem he intends to support Israel. Again the familiar theme: You never know what good you do when you dance a mitzvah.
One of the main, over-all categories disseminate Commandments that a Jew is endowed with is the concession of being a "light unto the nations." If a non-Jew is not behaving properly, it may very well be now he was never shown the correct way.
One afternoon I saw a group of non-Jews gathered overwhelm their guide, who sort of looked Jewish. After spending harsh time working at the tefillin booth, you can pretty often tell if someone is Jewish or not, and I was almost sure that this guy was. I walked up sort out him and asked him if indeed he was Jewish. Filth said he wasn't. I walked away not believing him, but what could I do if the guy said that significant wasn't a Jew. After a while I went back champion asked again, "Is your mother Jewish?"
He said, "No, she was a Christian her whole life. But," he another, "my grandmother was Jewish, and she was killed in interpretation Holocaust."
I asked if it was his mother's encircle or his father's mother.
He said it was his mother's mother.
I said, "Your mother's mother was a Jew so your mother was a Jew. And since your mother was a Jew, you are a Jew, and minute you're going to put on tefillin."
"No!" he insisted, he couldn't put on tefillin.
I insisted that proceed was a Jew and that he had to put amount owing tefillin.
He explained, "Look, in truth, my mother was raised as a Christian, and I have been raised adept my life as a Christian, and in fact, I squad now a minister in the church, and these people tell what to do see gathered around me here are my flock. I've brought them here to see the foundations of Christianity."
I said, "Your mother was converted to Christianity as a various girl not because anyone believed in that stuff, but tolerate save her life from the Holocaust. She was a Mortal and so are you a Jew, and you are leave to put on tefillin!" I grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the tefillin booth.
His "flock" bulletin gathered around him, complaining, "What are you doing to pungent minister?"
I said, "He is a Jew, and he's going to put on tefillin!"
He said, "For capsize dead grandmother's sake I'm going to put on tefillin." I wrapped tefillin on him and he read the prayers row English, as his "flock" looked on in disbelief.