One of the hardest things as we observe people losing their jobs, watch as the markets wipe out years of retirement savings, and see our vital institutions hamstrung by falling membership and contributions - is to see the positive despite the negatives.
How do I keep my spirits buoyed? First, it is observing all the willingness of people to help those in real need. There has been so much generosity in my Jewish community and in the larger community from those who care ... to those in trouble. I have not lost my faith that God acts through the hands and checkbooks of good people. Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, especially in hard times, is primarily achieved through regular people doing the right thing, kindness and justice - personally, communally and politically.
When I see what's happening in the larger community and certainly in the Jewish professionally community, with the terrifying loss of parnassah (income sustenance) - it's good to realize that personally it's not so bad. In fact, it really is good. I have my health (as it is). I have a wonderful job. All the members of my family are doing as well as they have in a pretty good while. In the scheme of things that really count - I'm lucky and feel a true sense of gratitude for all the blessings that I enjoy. That appreciation energizes me to help those who don't have all the things that fortunately I do.
If anything of what I've just said makes sense, then for me the last step is to be proactive, to take responsibility for what's happening, and choose as an act of will not to be despondent. To pararphrase the "Serenity Prayer," I may not have control over what happens to me, but I do have control over my response to my circumstance. I can wallow in self-pity and anxiety or I can find help and work with others to make things a little better. I can respond to the pain of others with help and hope. As a Jew I am eternally optimistic - that with God's help, which is experienced when we help - things will be OK. In the end I really do have bitachon, confidence in God's love and power. I know that everything is not always going to be OK, but ultimately I have sublime faith in God's goodness for me, my family, my community, and our world.
How do I keep my spirits buoyed? First, it is observing all the willingness of people to help those in real need. There has been so much generosity in my Jewish community and in the larger community from those who care ... to those in trouble. I have not lost my faith that God acts through the hands and checkbooks of good people. Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, especially in hard times, is primarily achieved through regular people doing the right thing, kindness and justice - personally, communally and politically.
When I see what's happening in the larger community and certainly in the Jewish professionally community, with the terrifying loss of parnassah (income sustenance) - it's good to realize that personally it's not so bad. In fact, it really is good. I have my health (as it is). I have a wonderful job. All the members of my family are doing as well as they have in a pretty good while. In the scheme of things that really count - I'm lucky and feel a true sense of gratitude for all the blessings that I enjoy. That appreciation energizes me to help those who don't have all the things that fortunately I do.
If anything of what I've just said makes sense, then for me the last step is to be proactive, to take responsibility for what's happening, and choose as an act of will not to be despondent. To pararphrase the "Serenity Prayer," I may not have control over what happens to me, but I do have control over my response to my circumstance. I can wallow in self-pity and anxiety or I can find help and work with others to make things a little better. I can respond to the pain of others with help and hope. As a Jew I am eternally optimistic - that with God's help, which is experienced when we help - things will be OK. In the end I really do have bitachon, confidence in God's love and power. I know that everything is not always going to be OK, but ultimately I have sublime faith in God's goodness for me, my family, my community, and our world.
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