Just received bad news: Sruly's aunt, in her sixties, passed away after a long
battle with cancer. One week ago, the doctors were hopeful. A new
treatment. Optimism was in the air. This week she is gone. Aunt Rachel was a
real lady. She had presence. Class. An aura of invincibility. And now she
is gone. Her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and lovely grandchildren will
carry on her legacy, as will all who knew her, but this is what we call in
Hebrew a "mussar haskel" - aka, a moment to learn. A teachable, or, more
correctly, a learnable, moment. In mussar we learn that everything happens
for a reason, and that reason is always, among others, to force us to examine
ourselves in a new way, a way that will facilitate personal growth and
development. Here's what I'm thinking: God wants me to remember, to write on
the tablet of my heart, that none of us are immortal, that it pays to examine
our own feelings of invincibility on a daily basis. Not because we're morbid,
not because life is depressing, and not because Judaism is stiff, sad, or
moribund. On the contrary: because living with a priority like that is the
ONLY thing, paradoxically, that can afford true happiness - happiness that
comes from a sense of meaning, purpose, and reaching our goals.
Thank you, Aunt Rachel, for the mussar.
May your memory be for a blessing.
