“Charity resides in the heart. Open it.”
On our way to Los Angeles to celebrate Passover with our daughter Tamar, we listened to the book by Alexander McCall Smith called “The Unbearable Lightness of Scones”, which we had borrowed from the San Francisco Public Library. This is the last one in his series about different people living in Edinburg, Scotland. Over the years, we’ve listened to many of his books, including a series of novels titled, “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”. Regardless of the plot, the characters, or the geographic location, all of his books share the concept of how to be charitable to other people. Most of us associate the word charity with the giving of money. McCall Smith is talking about the sharing of the goodness of your heart.
I was thinking about the word “charitable” as we were driving through Los Angeles. Heavy traffic and congestion make people tense and nervous. Some cross in front of each other, while others change lanes without signaling. I was not surprised to hear Tamar’s verbal reaction, which was not very charitable. I did not like it, but I realized that I often did the same (both in driving and expressing myself toward other drivers).
The next morning, I read in the Torah:
“You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your fellow as yourself—I am HASHEM.” (Leviticus 19:16).
Those words were recorded about 3,400 years ago. Hillel the Elder paraphrased the commandment 2,000 years ago saying:
“What is hateful to you, do not do to others” (Shabbos 31a).
On April 20th, Easter Sunday doesn’t only signify department store sales, chocolate bunnies, and the search for colorful hard-boiled eggs. This holiday was established in 325 AD by the council of Nicea to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was contemporarily Hillel and before his death said many good things. Among them:
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Regardless of which holiday we celebrate, let’s be charitable to each other. (Including the other drivers on the road.)
P.S.
Being charitable extends also to those who might be far away from us. It is about time for our great motion to be charitable to our small neighbor—Cuba. Let’s not forget that Jesus also said:
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).
You can see more images of beautiful people in Cuba (and buy the book, Soy Cubano) on my website.
DO NOT KEEP ME AS A SECRET.
SMILE AND PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND