The days have been so busy. They start to blur. Each one packed. Each one counted. We are now in the third week of counting of the omer. Wednesday, was that only yesterday?, I spent part of the day at Food for Greater Elgin together with the CKI team. This program helps families living below the poverty line “grocery shop” in a warehouse with donated food. Families can shop once during a month. There is a great deal of lovingkindness that goes into the dignity with which this program functions. Families can pick out canned food, cereal, bread, snacks, treats, pastries and even fresh vegetables and meat. Yesterday we served 75 families. The people shopping were good natured, not pushy, helpful to one another, sharing recipes and ideas for how to stretch food dollars. You might have thought you were at Jewel or Meijers. In fact, both chains have donated lots of food! Wednesday was also Cheside b’Netzach, Lovingkindness of Endurance or Lovingkindness of Eternity. It is the love that will endure, that will go on forever.
Rabbi Simon Jacobson explains that “Endurance means to be alive, to be driven by what counts. It is the readiness to fight for what you believe, to go all the way.” He asks us to ask ourselves, “How committed am I to my values? How much would I fight for them? Am I easily swayed? What price am I ready to pay for my beliefs? Is thereany truth for which I would be ready to give my life?” Interesting questions in light of the events of this week. I have often said that I would like to be arrested for some cause I really believe in, as an act of Civil Disobedience, like Thoreau, like Martin Luther King, like David Saperstein. But give my life? I am not sure. Jews are commanded to “Choose life that you may live.” I know that millions of Jews gave their lives just for the privilege of being a Jew. I am not sure what choice I would make.
In the meantime, I am glad that Food for Greater Elgin exists. The people who run Food for Greater Elgin exhibit that kind of love of chesed b’netzach. They act with a love and a passion that will endure. The people who show up to help also do. I am glad that such safety nets exist, that feed people with dignity.
Thursday was the 23rd day of the counting of the omer. It is about gevurah b’netzach, enduring discipline. If I am to run the Boston Marathon, or the Disney Princess Marathon then I am going to need ongoing discipline and strength. It will not be enough to run one day and say I am ready. The medical staffs that work at the major hospitals in Boston (and in other places as well), have this kind of enduring discipline. Sadly, they must train for events like Monday, and they do. Over and over again. And so they are ready when it is least expected and most needed. I am glad that they have that kind of enduring strength and discipline.
This week when I opened the mail I was surprised and delighted to find a letter from my dentist. He was giving me tickets to a movie because I referred someone to him. It was a nice gesture that I wasn’t expecting. I referred the person, my husband actually, because I have been impressed with his gevurah b’netzach, his enduring discipline and his compassion. I would have referred my husband anyway. The tickets are one more example of how this dentist, who has called on his day off to make sure I am OK, has worked with insurance companies here and in Massachusetts, has made sure that I am comfortable in his chair, always a scary experience for me, has set up reminders in many ways is disciplined in how he approaches his practice. Because he is consistent, disciplined and oh so kind, he is growing his practice. That is what gevurah b’netzach is. May we all have such strength.