Send us health God.
There is so much that we need.
One the masters, Rebbe Elimelech was asked, “In Torah it says that Pharaoh told Moshe and Aharon, “Show a wonder for you.” Why would Pharaoh say such a thing? Pharaoh ought to have said, “Show a wonder to me.”
Elimelech answered that he said this, “because you have to first believe.”
There is much wonder in the world. People are working day and night to find a cure for this virus or alleviate the pain of those who are suffering. Truckloads of food are being delivered to the hungry everywhere across the nation and globe. Acts of kindness abound on an unprecedented level. Prayers houses are shuttered but people are participating in prayer services in numbers not seen in decades.
We feel like an endangered species. We are in this together and instead of scraping for morsels we are opening doors for one another. We are calling our friends, neighbors, and estranged relatives to find out if they are alright or if they need anything. The coronavirus has given us an unexpected gift, a new perspective on life, a newfound appreciation of the air we breathe, the flowers that are in full bloom and the smiles that crinkle the faces of strangers.
At times, you may feel desperate and alone – watching the daily news can bring on depression --in being quarantined but you are not alone. That is the wonder of it all. See it. Draw it deeply into your soul. Allow it to fill your mind with hope and buoyancy. Then take your computer or your phone and call someone. Drop groceries at their doorstep. Toilet paper or Clorox too. Offer to take in their mail.
The Torah instructs us, “Righteousness (tzedek, tzedek), righteousness, you shall pursue.” The Seer of Lublin explained the meaning of this passage. He said, “When a person believes that he/she is completely just, justice does not see her/him. You must never be still; you almost always move forward, like a newborn, growing, learning and doing like you have achieved little at all - that is true justice.”
So, when you feel disillusioned, walking in darkness, find a way to do someone an act of goodness. That single act can lift the veil of darkness from our eyes and make us whole once again. It is the reason you were born, to improve just one person’s day. That simple act validates our lives. It will make the clouds lift and bring us into the light of God.
Simon Jacobson told when the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Chabad Rebbe, was a child, he was playing on a ladder with other children. All the children climbed halfway up, and he was the only child who climbed all the way to the top.
Afterwards, his grandfather, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who was standing by the window watching, asked him, "Why is it that you were not afraid to climb to the top when all your friends gave up?"
He answered, "Simple. I never looked down. I just kept looking up. When I saw how I low I was that motivated me to climb higher."
Always focus your attention on what lies before you. Do not look down. Look up. Climb ever higher. Rabbi Tarfon in the Mishna, taught us that “you will never finish the task, but you are obligated to never give up.”
Look up my friends. There is much work, mush goodness, to be done.
Send us health God, not just of body but of spirit.
Lift us up, God, so that we feel Your Presence and can see more clearly the goodness that surrounds us. Give us that vision, Lord.
