day 31
My friend David is home, recovering from an operation, and every day friends come by with cooked dinners. Tonight, Isabella and Lisa walk in, with fresh lasagna, chicken soup and homemade cottage cheese. The chicken soup, Isabella says, comes with special healing from Berditchev, her hometown in the Ukraine, where the saintly Reb Levi Yizchak lived and is buried. His grave is a thriving pilgrimage site, and her prayers go there too she says, and it never fails. David shows me the pantry and fridge, overflowing with kindness.
Day 31 is Chesed in Hod – kindness within the grandeur – little acts of kindness inside the big life. How often do I practice these little acts of kindness through a single busy work day? tonight reminder: more of those. seek them out. the holy recipe for healing, pre Berdichev, calls for three ingredients of a wholesome life: torah – seekingf wisdom, avoda – spiritual iife, gmilut chasadim – acts of kindness -chesed. Like chicken soup, all ingredients must be well balanced. seek out the balance.
19 to go
