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“Choose Life”
This year’s High Holy Day services were the most emotional I ever remember. So many feelings ran through my mind. Perhaps it was the roller coaster ride of events that preceded them. As Charles Dickens wrote in The Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” It started with the graffiti written on the Temple walls. When I received the phone call from Cherie telling me about the incident it seemed like the worst thing that could possibly happen. Of course, a few weeks later on September 11th, I was proven wrong. Suddenly someone spray painting the Temple didn’t seem so significant. What was similar about both those incidents was the way our community responded. Although we saw the worst of some people, others comforted us. I received calls from congregants, churches and contractors offering to help. Immediately following the terrorist attack people also called with offers of food, money, and other assistance.
Perhaps looking at my beautiful daughter, Amy in the congregation and knowing that she would become a bat mitzvah in one short year caused my feelings. Perhaps it was the realization that I have been the Executive Director of Temple Beth El for nearly ten years and acknowledging just how fast time goes. Perhaps it was one of those things. Probably not. More likely it was how vivid the memory of my wife, Susan seemed. Susan loved the High Holy Days. She looked forward to Yom Kippur morning and reading the portion in the torah where we are told to “choose life.” She loved the words, “See, I have set before you this day life and good, or death and evil…I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse; choose life, therefore, that you and your descendants may live – by loving the Lord your God, listening to God’s voice, and holding fast to the One who is your life and the length of your days.” Those are powerful words and so meaningful at this time. Susan not only read those words at Yom Kippur but she lived them. Even after she was told that she would die from cancer she never gave up. She taught us that every day is a gift not to be squandered; that it is our choice whether we will make the days left to us a blessing.
Time is not rushing past us but stretching ahead, waiting to be explored. Time is the ally, not the enemy. And so, as we begin the New Year at Temple Beth El, I urge all of you to choose life. You can do this by coming to services Friday night. If you can’t, celebrate Shabbat at home with your family. You can choose life by joining a committee or volunteering. Become part of our caring community and reach out to help someone in need. You can choose life by taking care of yourself. If you haven’t seen a doctor in more than two years run - don’t walk - to the nearest phone and make an appointment. We have a challenging year ahead of us. I look forward to choosing life with all of you.
Last week’s puzzle was apparently more challenging than I thought. There were only three winners. Ken Schorr, Paul Heffler and Steve Raphael all knew that the only word in the English language always pronounced incorrectly is “incorrectly.” None of the rungs of the ladder would be under water in high tide and the significance of the time of thirty four minutes past noon on May 6, 1978 is that if you write it out in numbers it is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.
This week’s puzzle is a little easier so there should be lots of winners. 1. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in the center field? 2. Is half of two plus two equal to two or three?
Send your answers to me at info@beth-el.com or fax to (704) 366-1365.
Arthur B. Kramer
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