Nobody's perfect. Whether that is a fact or merely an opinion, I believe we can all agree that nobody is perfect. Now here's some logic for you: if nobody is perfect, that means that we all do things we aren't necessarily proud of or happy about, we sin. We want to be forgiven for the things we do wrong. Some things we do are wrong to others, but some things we do are wrong for ourselves or even for God. If we do bad things to others, we want them to forgive us. This also means that we will have bad things done to us. How can we expect forgiveness from God if we do not forgive others for things they have done to us?
That wasn't so eloquent, so to sum up: if you forgive others for the bad things they do to you, God forgives you for your own sins.
Day 188: Charity Is Not Enough
Giving charity is a good thing (another thing we can all agree on) but being able to give to the poor as well as safe them from embarrassment is an even better thing:
For Samuel and Ablat were sitting, while certain people were going to a lake.5 Said Ablat6 to Samuel: 'That man is going but will not return, [for] a snake will bite him and he will die.' 'If he is an Israelite,' replied Samuel. 'he will go and return.'7 While they were sitting he went and returned. [Thereupon] Ablat arose and threw off his [the man's] knapsack, [and] found a snake therein cut up and lying in two pieces — Said Samuel to him, 'What did you do?'8 'Every day we pooled our bread and ate it; but to-day one of us had no bread, and he was ashamed. Said I to them, "I will go and collect [the bread]".9 When I came to him, I pretended to take [bread] from him, so that he should not be ashamed.' 'You have done a good deed,' said he to him. Then Samuel went out and lectured: But charity10 delivereth from death;11 and [this does not mean] from an unnatural death, but from death itself.
(Source: http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_156.html)
Day 189: Shabbat
Whew, what a whirlwind of a week! I've been trying to catch up on this blog, get ahead for my online course so that I can take the final exam a week ahead of schedule (so I can avoid taking it on my family's vacation), and on top of all of that working at my internship!
It's crazy, I only have 4 more days of work. I feel like I just started there.
I'm looking forward to Shabbas and to Shabbas dinner with family friends. I love seeing them and I love cooking and I'm excited to combine both!
- Help Someone to Find a Spouse, Help Someone to Find Work: N/A
- Do Good...Now: N/A
- Teach Your Child Torah: N/A
- Teach Your Child the Value of Human Life: I feel like I would opt to save the stranger's life without question, but I don't feel that this takes away from my love of animals or nature. There was a small snake in my driveway today, too small for me to see while I was driving... If I had known it was there I would've tried not to run it over, but instead I found it as I was going to check the mailbox. I said Baruch Dayan haemet....I wasn't quite sure what else I was supposed to do. I've never had the misfortune of running over an animal before and I hope I don't have it again.
- A Pragmatic Reason for Forgiving Others: N/A
- Charity Is Not Enough: N/A
Day 190: Find Work for the Developmentally Disabled
"The highest degree of aid to a Jew in want is...providing work for him so that he may become self-supporting." -Laws Concerning Gifts to the Poor 10:7, Mishneh Torah
I remember so clearly the birth of my cousin. He was born with a cleft palate and developmental delays. Through special schools (both Jewish and secular) and different types of therapies, he has become higher functioning and truly a delight to see grow up.
My whole family sometimes wonders though, what kind of life he will have. We hope the best for him and we hope he finds something he loves to do. His bar mitzvah is later this year.
Rabbi Telushkin writes today about the high mitzvah of finding work for the developmentally disabled. I feel such a connection to this and I'm inspired to go look up organizations that carry out this mission. I'll be back to you in a week with organizations like this, both for my own knowledge and contentment (and maybe future volunteer purposes) and for whoever might one day read these words.
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