Words of compassion and hope

I opened our monthly all staff meeting today by sharing these thoughts which were written by Rabbi David Small of Emanuel Synagogue, who is a member of the Foodshare Board of Directors:

Thoughts after Newtown

  

The devastating and heartbreaking news from Newtown, Connecticut challenges us all. Searching for meaningful thoughts in the face of this shattering event, I offer three: Agony, Compassion, and Hope.

Agony: Jewish tradition encourages those who suffer loss and calamity to name our pain, to give voice to our grief. For me, the greatest pain comes from the tender age and innocence of the children who were slain, the fact that innocent little children and their teachers were the victims, and that these horrific acts of brutality took place in a school. We think of a school as a safe haven, a place of joy, learning, security, and order. These heinous murders shatter our sense of how things should be. Beholding the pain of parents, other children, and first responders multiplies our pain.

Compassion: Tradition teaches us to reach out to each other in times of trauma. The Torah relates that, in ancient Egypt, the plague of darkness afflicted every house in Egypt without exception. But then, the Torah relates, "in the houses of the Israelites, there was light." Our sages explain that in the Israelite houses, people called out in the darkness, seeing to the well-being of each other. When the people expressed concern for each other, "there was light." In these dark times, we can look to each others' welfare, encourage those burdened with trauma and sadness, and especially, offer our support to the people of Newtown. The healing power of compassion shared helps us be resilient in the face of terrible trauma.

Hope: The best definition of hope I have seen was Rabbi Edwin Friedman's: Hope is the capacity to imagine a better reality. The intrusion of unspeakable evil and the utter violation of innocents and their good teachers and protectors threatens to demoralize us, to paralyze us or lead us to despair and bitterness. Faced with this existential crisis, we can try to envision a better reality, a better society where "none shall hurt or destroy" and where children and parents and teachers can feel safe again. We can remind ourselves that our capacity to do good in the world remains strong within us. We can, through our pain, turn back to the many tasks before us to bring healing, love, and goodness into a world that is often savage and brutal. We can meet evil with good and show compassion to others and to ourselves as well.

We have just completed the festival of Hanukah. Each night we added light in the darkness. Let our own flames of hope and care shine through the pain and darkness and lead us to healing, courage, and hope.