The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World

by Sharon Brous

Zusya, a Hasidic rabbi living in Poland in the eighteenth century, was afraid to die. He confided to his students that he feared standing before God in judgment. His students were stunned. “But you are pious, humble, and wise,” they said. “You’ve lived a meaningful and righteous life. What do you have to worry about?” Zusya shared that he had had a vision. On the day of judgment, he was not asked, “Why weren’t you Moses, leading your people out of slavery?” or “Why weren’t you Joshua, leading your people into the Promised Land?” Instead, he was asked, “Zusya, why weren’t you Zusya?” And that, he could not answer. Becoming ourselves is a spiritual imperative of the highest order—for our own sakes and for the sake of the world. Because we are both big and small, everything and nothing. There is a note that I—and only I—and you—and only you—must sound in this sacred chorus. Each of us is only one small part of a vast and interconnected network of souls working toward the repair of our broken world.