When I travel, I often ask myself the same question: is it worth it? Is it worth it as I slug my way through yet another airport, and sleep in yet another hotel? Sometimes a single event makes the answer strikingly clear. I will share two recent examples, both of which followed a speaking engagement in two very different communities (and I share them publicly because they were shared with me rather publicly as people were clamoring for my attention after two recent presentations, to two rather different audiences and locales; otherwise, I would abide by the wisdom of my own teachers and never share what was said to me).

One woman came forward after a recent presentation and said, “I have been married to a wonderful Catholic man for 25 years. And for 25 years I have carried a burden of guilt with me whenever I go. This is the first time in 25 years, after hearing what you had to say, that I feel relieved of my burden.”

In another presentation, a woman came forward and said, “My daughter is soon to be engaged to a man who isn’t Jewish. I didn’t know what to do so I came to hear what you had to say. Before you spoke, I was planning on going home to try to break up their relationship, to dissuade my daughter from marrying that man. Now, after hearing what you had to say, I am going to go home and embrace them both with as much love as I can muster. I will welcome them into my home and into my heart.”

What more could we ask for in the evolving Torah of the Jewish people? As I think the medieval Jewish poet Ibn Pakuda once said, “Our lives are scrolls. We write on them with our hearts.” So, is my travel worth it? You bet it is.