Bye Bye Week

I was doing Torah Guidance the other day with two students, discussing identity. They gave one of their friends as an example of someone who has the strength to be honest, be her own person, do the right thing, and not be pressured by others. At lunch today I bumped into said friend and passed on that friends of hers had high praise for her. She shined like the sun and went to tell other friends how sweet and kind those friends were. I walked out of lunch and bumped into our computer specialist. I told him that I was recently talking with a student and she said that her family is so fond of him and so appreciative of the work he's done for them on their computers. He was thrilled to hear it.


This poem by Emily Dickinson comes to mind:


If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.


I was talking this afternoon Torah with 3 boys who had a free period and chose to use it for Torah Guidance. One of them was chock full of medrashim and wanted to understand some of them better. He asked what he was to make of the medrash, which says that Og hung on to the ark and lived many years beyond the flood. I told him that Chazal will often consolidate matters and say that an unnamed character is really someone we already heard of. The students all together chimed in that this is called the principle of the conservation of biblical characters. One of them said that an example of this is saying that Shifra and Puah were Yocheved and Miraiam. Another student - a super masmid and our resident Lubavitcher said that in the case of Shifra and Puah it is total pshat and not simply this principle at play. He says he can prove it. I look forward.


I look forward to Shabbos and I breathe out the week. Shabbos is approaching. I wish a wonderful Shabbos to the world. G-d knows we need it.