Poor Oliver

Oliver Sacks haunts me.

When I was a kid I enjoyed reading his books. Then I found out that he grew up in a shomer shabbos family. He also revealed not long before his death his reasons for never marrying וד"ל.

It haunts me that a yiddishe neshama should have lived a life deviod of Torah and mitzvos even though he should have known better. I am not judging. I will leave that up to Hashem. You should never judge anyone unless you first walk a mile in their shoes. This way when you criticize the person you are a whole mile away - and you have his shoes.

I can't judge a person who had tests that I, Baruch Hashem, never had. But it is sad that he lost out on a life of Torah and mitzvos. Every lost neshama is a tragedy. But this one struck a chord in me because I read his books and articles.

אבינו מלכנו חננו ועננו כי אין בנו מעשים עשה עמנו צדקה וחסד והושיענו