The Cry of a Broken Heart

One morning a group of teenagers asked Reb Yerachmiel:  "What is the point of human life? Why are we here?" 

The Rebbe replied:  "If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?" 

The children debated this for a while and then the Rebbe replied:  "Here is my understanding. Without an ear to register the vibrations of the falling tree, no sound is produced.  Sound is not a thing but a transaction between things. For there to be sound there must be a falling tree and an ear to hear.  Why are we here? We are the other half of the transaction. We are here to hear." 

"But other beings hear!" a student said.  "And dogs can hear sounds humans can't hear.  Are dogs more important than us?"

"True," Reb Yerachmiel said, "dogs can hear what we cannot.  But we can hear what even dogs cannot. We can hear the cry of a broken heart.  We can hear the outrage of injustice. We can hear the whisper of empathy. We can hear the silence of death.”

The rebbe concluded with a gentle smile. “You are here to listen not only to what everyone else can hear, but also to that which only you can hear."