Putting Things in Perspective
My Wednesday afternoon very quickly went from sunny to near-disaster. It was one of the rare days when I drive into Manhattan instead of taking the subway. When I went to my car to go home with a stop for some food shopping along the way, I realized that someone else was parked in the spot where my car had been. I looked around, thinking that maybe it was parked somewhere else. The first thought that came to my mind was “Who would want to steal our car?” Hoping that this wasn’t the case, I thought that maybe I was on the receiving end of Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to make up for lost municipal revenue by ticketing and/or towing every car possible. It seems like Washington D.C. has a similar approach to budget shortfalls. After a few phone calls it turned out that this was the case. After a few hours and a trip to the infamous tow pound on 38th St. and 12th Ave., I made it home. FYI: I think that I have a very good chance of beating the ticket ($110) and hopefully getting reimbursed for the towing fee ($185). As you can imagine, I wasn’t the happiest of people. Late Wednesday night while driving home from teaching a class I heard that a plot was foiled to blow up two synagogues in our neighborhood. For the latest see here. Very quickly I realized that no matter how bad my day had been, I should be thankful that my family and I and our community, not to mention the car, were all safe and sound.
Today’s NYT had a nice article about Riverdale, interviewing Rabbi Judith Lewis of the Riverdale Temple and David Winter who is the executive director of the Riverdale Jewish Center. The article ended with the following.
Rabbi Lewis’s response to the bomb plot was one of simple resolve: “My message is we go on with our mission.” On Thursday morning, for example, she woke early to take two candidates who are converting to Judaism to a ritual bath, called a mikvah. “The first thing I asked them was, ‘Are you sure you want to do this after what you saw last night — to tie your fate to a people frequently under this kind of threat?’ ” she said. “They said, ‘Even more so now.’ I cried.”
Her words echoed what is found in the Talmud on Eruvin 47a.
Our Rabbis taught: A (potential) convert who approaches to be converted at this time, they say to him: “Why have you decided to approach (us) to be converted? Do you not know that the Israelites at this time are pained, oppressed, harassed, and torn, and that afflictions come upon them?” If he says, “I know and am unworthy,” they accept him immediately.
Whether it is four terrorists or a NYC tow truck, I’m not going to let them prevent me from being thankful for what I have.