One Day
by Rabbi Sruly Koval
This Sunday I celebrated my annual milestone in my journey around the sun. I was overwhelmed by all of the happy birthday wishes I received on Facebook. To be honest, I'm not a huge Facebook fan - my wife is definitely the Facebook ambassador of our family :-). But it was so heartwarming to read all the kind and thoughtful posts, and feel all the Facebook love.
My Facebook birthday taught me two important lessons.
Number one, I was reminded of the power of our small actions. It's so easy to make someone else's day. From the simple "HBTY" to a one-line personal message, ten seconds on a keyboard can bring a smile to someone else's face. That's huge!
Lesson number two: Facebook has an ugly side. It can breed jealousy and breach confidentiality and modesty. But this week I was reminded of the inherent neutrality that everything possesses. The mussar masters teach us that everything in life, both our character traits and talents, as well as our possessions and the things that we have and do, can be used as a source of goodness and positivity. Of course, "it's easier to destroy than to build," but we must seek ways and opportunities to use every prop in our lives to build a happier and better world.
Two days later, Tuesday, became an historic day in the life of JFX. We embarked upon an innovative fundraising campaign, and were overwhelmed, no, blown away, by its success! 145 donors, with gifts ranging from $10 to $10,000, showered us with generosity and love, culminating in a total of over $60,000 in one day. The success of the campaign exceeded our wildest expectations, and brought out the goodwill and kindness of our community.
From this, too, I learned two important lessons.
Number one: the power of a day. It was a 24-hour campaign and it reminded me how much every day counts, and how I must look for opportunities to make every day special. Every day is a gift (even the "tough days") and sometimes we'll be amazed at how much can be accomplished in only one day.
Lesson number two. Hang in there!
"Yeshuat Hashem k'heref ayin" - God's help can come in the blink of an eye.
Two weeks ago, JFX needed a real end-of-the-year financial boost. With two upcoming Shabbatons, a growing staff, and expanded learning opportunities, our budget was weighing heavily on my shoulders. The concept for our campaign came from out of the blue, and the implementation, execution and culmination happened before I could even digest it all.
Thank God for His overwhelming kindness and thank you, my friends, for partnering with Him and making this past week a week I'll smile about for a long time.
Happy Chanukah and Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Sruly Koval
