Food for the Soul | March 10th, 2021

3/10/2021 

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Dear Friends,  

 

How much difference a week can make! I speak for myself. Last week I felt depression and a sort of despair. Since then, things have changed. The weather has improved, allowing for long walks in beautiful places. Many people have been vaccinated or will be in the next few weeks. And although we cannot yet discard our facemasks, it does give us a sense of some freedom, a rebirth, a resurrection. Now is the time to be wise and stick with the rules that emphasize our care for each other, i.e. keep the masks on when in public situations. 

 

Spring is now visible. Any new growth, whether our own or that of a plant in the garden, needs a good dose of TLC. We must allow it to grow slowly, according to its own pace. So it is with our newly opened life in society. Let us move gradually, in little steps. Let us also be aware of possible setbacks, especially if we rush in getting to a reordered life. Life is not a straight line. It is often a matter of three steps forward and two steps backward. And so we continue to evolve slowly. Our setbacks can be painful, yet we always learn from them. I hope that some time in the future we will be able to look back on this year of pandemic and realize how much it has contributed to our spiritual and communal life.  

 

PRAYER 

 

I have been praying for this day and now it is here! 
With great excitement, a touch of trepidation 
And with deep gratitude 
I give thanks 
To all the scientists who toiled day and night 
So that I might receive this tiny vaccination 
That will protect me and all souls around this world. 
With the pandemic still raging 
I am blessed to do my part to defeat it. 
Let this be the beginning of a new day, 
A new time of hope, of joy, of freedom 
And most of all, of health. 
I thank You, God, for blessing me with life 
For sustaining my life 
And for enabling me to reach this awe-filled moment. 
Amen 
—Rabbi Naomi Levy 

  

PRACTICE 

 

While we are gradually starting to feel more positive about the end of the pandemic, there are people who are deeply grieving because of a loved one they have lost, or because the pandemic is still holding them in its grips. I suggest a very simple practice: Write the words “Remember to BREATHE” on an index card. Tape it to your dashboard, a bathroom mirror, or any other prominent place. Do not only look at it, but actually do it mindfully.  

 

POEM 

 

We shall not cease from exploration 

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started 

And know the place for the first time. 

Through the unknown, remembered gate 

When the last of earth left to discover 

Is that which was the beginning; 

At the source of the longest river 

The voice of the hidden waterfall 

And the children in the apple-tree 

Not known, because not looked for 

But heard, half-heard, in the stillness 

Between two waves of the sea. 

Quick now, here, now, always – 

A condition of complete simplicity 

(Costing not less than everything) 

And all shall be well and 

All manner of things shall be well 

When the tongues of flame are in-folded 

Into the crowned knot of fire 

And the fire and the rose are one. 

 

  • T. S. Eliot, from Little Gidding V 

 

Kyle Picha