Look! Up in the Sky! It’s…the sky (and its urban friends)!

Here’s a Hasidic tale that has more to say on the topic:

One day a rabbi gazed through the window of his study which looked out upon the marketplace.  People were hurrying to and fro, each attending to his or her own particular business.

Suddenly the rabbi saw a familiar face.

“Hikel!” he called.  “Come in, I want to speak with you.”

“Shalom, Rabbi, how are you?”

“Thank God, I am fine.  Tell me, Hikel, what were you doing in the marketplace?”

“Oh, I’ve very busy today.  I have a lot of business to take care of.”

“Hikel,” asked the rabbi.  “Have you looked up at the sky today?”

“At the sky, Rabbi?  No, of course not.  I’m too busy to look at the sky.”

“Hikel, look out the window and tell me what you see.”

“I see people and horses and carriages, all rushing around doing business.”

“Hikel,” the rabbi said, “in fifty years there will be other people in other carriages, drawn by other horses, and we will not be here.  And, Hikel, in a hundred years, neither the marketplace nor this town will even exist.  Look at the sky, Hikel, look at the sky!”