The Journey Continues/44 weeks

Dear Friends, I wanted to give you an update. It is now 44 weeks and perhaps it was being secluded in the snow and not seeing people for a few days or perhaps it is because it was the first snow storm since Sue passed away, but it has been a challenging time. Sometime soon, an editor is going to be compiling these blogs and the commentary I am writing and we hope to publish my musings sometime during 2026. Recently, one of our children and I were talking about an idea in Jewish life that there are 36 righteous people in every generation. We don't know who they are since they work behind the scenes and are unassuming. As we were talking about this, I realized that I may have been married to one of them. Many of you reading these blogs have told me that you never realized all the things that Sue did during her lifetime. These people are called lamed vavniks since the Hebrew letter "lamed" is numerically 30 (each Hebrew letter has a numerical value...this is called gematria and you can look it up!). The letter "vav" equals 6 so that there are 36 righteous people in every generation. What makes someone a lamed vavnik? I believe that their righteousness is measured by the joy with which they try to help others. Doing kind deeds is not a chore or merely an obligation. Being kind is an opportunity and a blessing which provides satisfaction and happiness to the one being kind. If my definition is correct, then Sue certainly was a lamed vavnik. Recently when I was putting together the wording for the marker for Sue's grave (it is hard to believe that it is approaching a year since she left this world physically):-(, I thought a lot about what would capture the essence of who she was, is, and will always be. The marker will say that Sue still sparkles (as she would say about her engagement ring) and that she was always kind. As I continue to forge a path ahead I hope that in the midst of the world in which we live, we will continue to strive to be kind and that perhaps once again, our world will sparkle with joy and happiness. If each of us can brighten the world of someone else, then Sue's legacy will continue to inspire us. Finally, I began by talking about snow. I shared with our children how I would always come in with a snowball after the first snowfall, throw it at her playfully, she would get angry with me ( I wonder why???), I would hug her to try to make it up to her and then would take snow and try to put in down her back. As she became familiar with this ritual, she told me "DON'T YOU DARE!" Well, in my ongoing conversations with her since I last wrote, she has dared me to try to be happy and to continue to try to inspire people to bring kindness, joy, and love to our world. She wouldn't want me to pour cold snow down people's backs, but would encourage me and all of us to provide warmth to the hearts of others. What do you think? Let's make a pledge to add some sparkle to someone's life by an act of kindness. Think about how the snow sparkles when it first falls and the sun shines on it. Let's bring some sunshine into our troubled world. Someone (it may have been my dad but it doesn't matter who because many of us could have said this) once remarked about Sue's sunny and optimistic nature and referred to her as "Susie Sunshine". Shabbat Shalom and Sabbath Peace, Rabbi Bruce Aft