The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was once
challenged: "Tell me, Rebbe, how can you, in this day and age, still insist
that the Torah is the unadulterated word of G-d? Are you not the least bit
swayed by the fact that so many Bible critics and men of science reject your
beliefs?"
The Rebbe responded with a story:
A young aspiring inventor labored for many years on a project. Finally, he
wrote to his mentor, a great engineer under whose tutelage he had studied,
saying that he wished to present his efforts for his teacher's critique. The
great engineer replied that he was scheduled to be in the young man's hometown
in a few weeks, and that he would be more than happy to drop by and offer his
comments on his beloved student's invention.
As the appointed day neared, the young man grew extremely agitated. He felt
that this was to be the most important test of his career. He saw this invention
as the embodiment of his most creative ideas; his mentor's opinion of it would
be the ultimate assessment of his worth.
When he woke that morning, he knew that he could not trust himself to face
his mentor's verdict. He left his blueprint on the table of his study, together
with a note in which he begged forgiveness for his absence and asked his teacher
to please put his comments in writing. After telling his wife to direct the
engineer to the study, he left the house to pace the streets.
It was late in the evening when he reentered his study. No sooner did his
glance fall on the table, that he uttered a small cry and collapsed in his
chair. His wife, rushing into her husband's side, found him white as a sheet and
with a look of utter despair in his eyes. On the table lay the blueprint of his
invention, with a few terse lines of black ink crisscrossing it from corner to
corner.
"It does look like it's in bad shape," said his wife. "But
can't you redraw it from memory?"
"Draw it from memory? Every line on that diagram is ingrained in my
mind. I can draw it in my sleep. But that is hardly the problem, is it?"
"What then is the problem?" wondered the good woman.
"The problem is that the greatest engineer in the land has crossed out the last ten
years of my life!"
"Your teacher?" said the inventor's wife. "He sent word that he can't
come today. What happened was that the cat climbed on to your table and knocked
over a bottle of ink."
