Lovingkindness in the Face of Difficulty
At Havurah Shalom, this is usually the time of year we create the calendar of programs and events for the next year. We choose a theme, solidify what classes will be offered, prepare the budget, start planning the liturgy and logistics for the High Holidays. The question I am living right now is, how can we plan for a future we know so little about? Do we plan as if we will be still virtual? as if we will be together but six feet apart?
What I know for sure is that we will be a community of Jews and people who love Jews, held together by our relationships, our history, our common commitments to social justice, learning, or spiritual growth. The pleasure we feel when we see each other's faces in a Zoom service, class or meeting signifies a strengthening of our connection, as does the increasing use of the Slack platform for Neighborhood Groups (HavuraHoods, anyone?). Each act of chesed (lovingkindness) one Havurahnik shows to another in these difficult times weaves a fabric of community in which we will all be encircled, in whatever future we find ourselves.
It's been hard, and it's going to feel harder, the longer we have to stay physically apart. To support ourselves in the discipline we've had to adopt, please maximize your self-kindnesses. Virtual connection, exercise, enough sleep, nourishment, meditation, movement... we all must do whatever it takes to care for all of us.
This excerpt from Rabbi Yael Levy's Directing the Heart, on this week's parsha, Emor, helps me today:
Here you are, the Mystery calls,
Here you are,
Right now.
This very moment is your life.
And this moment is perfect because
This is what is.
But the mind, never satisfied,
Seeks control,
Reaches for certainty,
Determined to fashion reality
According to its own image.
Let go, the Mystery implores.
Wonder, for awhile,
Not about changing the moment,
Wonder about changing
Your understanding,
Shifting your perspective,
So the energy spent
Bemoaning imperfection,
Clinging to regret,
And worrying about what will be
Can be put to better use...
So your can step fully
Into what each moment offers,
What each moment asks.
The choice is yours....
May we all be safe and well,
Adela Basayne, Program Director
