Heaven
Someone once asked Rebbe Shlomo, “After you leave this world, are you going to go to Heaven or to Hell?” He answered, “I don’t care, as long as I have a telephone.”
“Whenever I really needed to hear a comforting voice, usually, miraculously, Rebbe Shlomo would call.” One person related this. But there were many, many more people who often received phone calls from him at just the right moment.
The only way to Heaven is, always, via Hell.
Heaven is completeness, and Hell is incompleteness.
If you are in Heaven and you think you deserve it, you are in Hell.
The Ropshitzer Rebbe says something very special: A person filled with joy – even if he is the greatest sinner – will always be let into Paradise, because they are so eager to let in people with joy. They won’t let in a sad person. They can’t stand it.
Many religious Jews today eat strictly kosher food. It’s very holy. But if any Jew hits his children, as far as I am concerned, I don’t want to sit next to him in Heaven. Can you imagine? A Jew who hits his children? What kind of Heaven will he have?
When a person talks to you and you don’t pay attention, you are putting them through Hell because they are confronted with you not being there, with your absence. This is Hell. But if you have the strength to be completely there, then you are putting them into Heaven for that moment.
You really have to know how to listen. So the first thing we say is Shma Yisrael [listen Israel]. You have to listen.
