GNAGB Vol 812
Some feel strongly that blog posts should not be edited. Sometimes I go that route, like now , as I still struggle with cold, and hopefully head to sleep. I read Rabbi Riskin's dvar Torah this week, thinking back to the many times I read his piece in my life, particularly during my most formative years. Before him there was Rabbi Emanuel Rackman. I used to clip the Dvar Torah column and save it in a folder filled with many of them,over years...k
I was also thinking back with gratitude to G-d that I appeared in that space last week. I am also grateful to those who read early versions, listened, fed back. I remember.
Memory. Someone recently told me in no uncertain terms that my remembering of things through my experiencing them so strongly is nothing other than a curse. On the other hand a dear friend recently emailed me that, "we're both jealous of each other. i wish i had your empathy, your thoughtful memory for personal details about other people,which - don't take this the wrong way, it's a very strong compliment - i do not think your memory comes from a mnemonic devices or even a rain man type of brain: i think it comes from your very genuine, heart-level caring about other people. that sears these details in your brain. my kinat sofrim of you is, among other things, for that caring." I'll go with choice B, please.
I am typing this on wireless, as I head off to sleep, thinking about the Jewish Week. A writer named Klagsburn (I think) (A friend gave me her book on Shabbos as a Birthday present a few years back) wrote about gratitude. She' grateful for having written for the paper for 15 years, for relative good health, for having known Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, and more. It was a nice piece.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:58 PM
4 Comments:
Your dear friend wrote well and beautifully about you. It's so true.
Maayan
Thank you Maayan.
I left out the explanation, which is implicit, that I had written this friend that there are things in his life regarding which I have kinat sofrim, a (hopefull) holy kind of jealousy.
I too am jealous of you, the best kind of jealous, the kind that reminds you of a direction you're inspired by, that you desire to grow in, and have hope to do so.
It's clear from all you write that you live what is said about Mr. Rogers, "He offered a relationship to everyone he met." Your openness, willingness, and ability to connect with each person you encounter (student, parent, colleague, cab driver, blog friend and more)--to relate to them, to reach them, to make a difference in their lives--is the expression of a gifted soul and deep, extraordinary heart.
Thank you for inspiring jealousy in me, so I can push myself to direct my arrows toward this bull's-eye you have mastered.
Maayan
I am humbled by your words. Thank you Maayan.
Wow.
May G-d bless us all to always inspire, be inspired, and grow.
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