I Am Grateful

I just gave a test last period and it went into this one. I taught and had meetings through the day.  There's a school wide staff meeting tonight.  We'll be discussing peer observations, which is a great thing which I am grateful for.  Speaking of gratefulness I am taken a few seconds from my non stop duties to express gratefulness here.  I am grateful that my dad is a miraculous and tenacious survivor who is here in this world, in my life, ever present for me.  I am grateful to have a job that is a community, that is a place to serve, that is comfortable and nurturing and is a big peace of my journey toward a meaningful life.

About an hour and a half ago I was cutting through the library after minchah to administer my test.  The librarian stopped me and said she had a present for me.  Someone recently donated a collection of old books and she's distributing them to whom she sees fit.  So she gave me a book of poetry.  I told her that I felt bad taking it away from all the other people that would want a poetry book (for free)   She laughed and said that's why she was giving it to me.

The book is, Why Have You Chosen Me, by Bernard Dov Milans.  Here's a poem from it:

Salvage

All praise to You who tie us to a star
And rescue us from what we really are

I am grateful to have the poetry of Torah and the poetry of life in my life.

Here's something I improvised and then wrote up (last year) for Parshat Lech Lechah:

Lech Lechah 

By Rabbi Neil Fleischmann

There's a story we all know

about Avraham being asked to go

Hashem said to Avraham, "Lech lechah"

We should hear the story and we say, "Aha!"

If you think about it for a while

you can see it with a new style

Look at it in a different way

change your life, starting today

Avraham was told from himself to go

that's a game-changer of the whole show

He was told that he really had to change

to take his life and rearrange

"Lech lecha" means go to you

G-d said, "You know what to do"

"Lech lecha"- return to your self

Whether you're a giant or an elf

"Lech lecha"'s a call to everyone

It's sometimes hard, sometimes fun

"Lech lecha" means become the real you

We could start now, we know what to do

Avraham was told to become who he was

That's all any of us have, all anyone does

All of our lives we go to who we are

May we be blessed to be close, not far