Sometimes it is the things that happen in between what is scheduled that make the week meaningful and profound. This past week was supposed to be a quiet week. An ordinary week. Nothing special. Busy but not exciting. Yes, it had committee meetings scheduled but that is a natural part of synagogue life. We had a calendar meeting, a keruv meeting and a ritual committee meeting scheduled. There was Hebrew School, tutoring and office hours.
This week was anything but ordinary.
On Sunday a family asked me for a special blessing. They had just purchased a chamsa, a piece of jewelry that looks like a hand used in Middle East cultures for protection, from the synagogue gift shop. The back was engraved with a single word. Protect. They wanted me to bless the piece of jewelry. They wanted some form of protection of their own as the wife faces a life-threatening illness. I took them on the bimah with their daughter and recited the priestly benediction, the birkat hacohanim in front of the open ark and before the Torah scrolls. It was the morning of the Purim carnival and the synagogue was buzzing with activity. I was still dressed as Esther, cheerleader of the Jews. Complete with yellow clown wig and my pom poms. Standing on that bimah, quietly was a powerful moment. The blessing says, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” The word for keep can be translated as guard. We talk about God being the Guardian or the Protector of Israel. All season I had been I teaching the verse from Esther 4:14. Mordechai says, “Perhaps you have obtained such a position for just such a moment.” I felt that way standing on the bimah. Sometimes we talk about God being hidden in the Esther story. Over the bimah is the quote, “Know before whom you stand.” Standing there with this family was a profound experience. I knew before whom we stood.
On Wednesday, I met with my 7th graders. This is always one of the highlights of my week. They are enthusiastic and very bright. They help me answer questions. deep questions, tough questions, like what does it mean to be happy or what is revelation today. Earlier in the week the third graders had asked if God can see Himself. I told them I would get back to them and I let my seventh graders try that puzzle. What would they say to third graders? One boy has the beginning of Genesis as his Bar Mitzvah portion. We had been talking about being created in the image of God. Another boy has a portion that includes the phrase, “If I find favor in Your eyes.” “That proves it,” they exclaimed. “God has eyes. If God has eyes He can see Himself!” But what if God doesn’t have a body? What if God is neither male nor female?How do we reconcile that? One of the girls put it together. If we are all created in the image of God, it is like looking in the mirror. When we look in the mirror, we see ourselves, therefore we see God. So then God sees Himself since God has eyes and He finds us favorable.” Since we actually in the middle of a discussion about how God reveals Himself, the kids agreed that in seeing the Divine in each of us, that is how we uncover or reveal God’s presence. Really, these are my seventh graders.
Later in the week the woman from the bimah, who wanted God’s protection, would be in the hospital. The cancer had spread. Where was God’s protection? There is a difference between healing and curing. It will be a long battle for her but it sounds like the skilled and compassionate care team has a plan that will help her. I managed to see her Friday afternoon. I sang the Debbie Friendman B’yado the last verse from Adon Olam. It says, “Into His hand, I place my spirit. When I sleep and when I wake, and with my spirit, my body, God is with me, I shall not fear.” I sing this version often when I am at the hospital. Its slow, gentle melody is comforting, like a warm fuzzy blanket. I learned this from Rabbi Michael Schaddick in Grand Rapids who sang it to my mother when she was in the hospital. I hope that my congregant sleeps knowing that others and God are taking care of her while she sleeps. I hope that she knows that it is OK to be angry, OK to be sad, OK to be scared but that G-d never slumbers or sleeps. I assured her that her job is to get well and that it is my job, with others to take care of her husband and daughter. Her goal, learn enough Hebrew, together with her daughter, to fully participate in her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. The daughter showed up on Sunday, a new student, with her homework done. Her father said that before every treatment they are singing the Mi Sheberach but aren’t sure of the Hebrew. Again, I assured them that God understands.
Another congregant is a mensch of a high order. Quietly, behind the scenes she has been taking care of someone who has very little family and who was facing the end of her life. This has been going on for weeks. Hospice would say, “Any day now,” and then the day would pass and she would rally. Not today. The woman was not Jewish and wanted to know all about life after death. Judaism, while it may have developed the concept of heaven, and less about hell, does not offer the surety of some branches of Christianity. Still we all studied. We read books. We answered questions. I thought the hospice chaplain had a beautiful metaphor when he talked about the people who shoveled her walk preparing the way. “G-d prepares our way like that,” he told her, “and is waiting for you with open arms.” Still she held on. This past weekend, while I was on the bimah with that other family, her sister told my congregant, “You know, she was never baptized.” My congregant wondered if maybe that is what she was waiting for. “Can that be possible?” She called the chaplain. He came out in the snow storm. Ironically the walk had not been shoveled and he couldn’t get to the house. He came the next morning. Baptized the women and anointed her with oil. Two hours later she died, peaceful and assured that she would be welcomed by G-d. Can I explain it? No. Was it spiritual or psychological? I am not sure it matters. But another profound moment I have shared.
What will this week bring? A snow storm. Preparation for Passover. A Board Meeting. Hebrew School. What will happen between the ordinary times? What else will I be privileged to learn this week? Only God knows. But it is a privilege. Day in and day out.