JOY OF THE PRESENT
Sent as a forward of his own email (he had emailed it to himself first); added to the book 1 Nov 2026.
Dear Family
Hope everyone is well
Mazal Tov to Daniella on her upcoming birthday. Wishing you many more, and much success Dani.
Mazal Tov Sarita in Australia far away. But you are still close to our hearts. Love from all of us Sarita.
Mazal Tov to Devorah Leah and Family on the wedding of her brother Mendel, taking place tonight.
In continuation with the theme of increasing our JOY in the month of Adar, what was uppermost in my mind this week was the fresh joy of the PRESENT.
This was the theme of a talk by Rabbi Y Jacobson, which I heard this week, which was very powerful, and which I will try and share below.
And very close to this theme, out of the blue in the middle of the week Zalmy came up with this quote while we had been chatting ‘In life one either wins or learns’, which unbeknown to him, was so spot on to what was running through the the week.
R Jacobson’s talk was based around quite a strange story from The Jerusalem Talmud (Peah), but I believe it gives us an important lesson in Joy.
‘Two of the greatest Tanaim of that time, around about 300 CE, Reb Yochanan and Reish Lakish, were on their way to bathe in the hot springs of Tiberias (which I believe are extremely hot).
When they reached there they found a beggar who asked them for a donation.
They replied that they will give him when they have finished bathing, and they proceeded to the springs.
When they had finished and were on their way out, they found the beggar dead!
Now, lets put ourselves in their position, and try and understand how we would have felt?
Shock, guilt, fear, confusion, panic, run to find help, run away, guilt for the rest of our lives etc, or some combination?
Their response was ‘We did not merit to help this man while he was alive. Let us now merit to help him in his death.’ And they proceeded to prepare him for burial.
As it is known, burial is a great kindness and mitzva for the deceased, (because those performing the kindness know that they will not receive anything in return), and it consists of a number of stages.
As they were working their way through the stages, they found on his body a hidden bag of gold coins.
It is a hard story to understand, but R Jacobson explained that these Sages straight away homed in to the PRESENT, the opportunity that presented NOW, and got to work.
They did not start criticising themselves and getting depressed or getting involved and paralysed with a host of other negative emotions. These would not help the poor beggar,
who now had new needs.
As a practical lesson, he pointed out how easy it is for ourselves to either ‘live’ in the past or ‘live’ in the future when we relate to others or events.
To try and focus in to the present is really getting very close to where the Truth lies, and can bring us to a GREAT AND FRESH JOY
Wishing everyone a Gut Shabbos.