Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Boundaries, Closures and Hope

How far are you willing to reach to be there for someone? In this weeks torah portion Batya saves Moses and makes a difference in the lives of future generations. She reaches out when it seems impossible by overcoming her seemingly unreachable physical boundaries and finds the strength to save a child, a child that will open the door to who we are.



As humans we often have a hard time defining our physical, emotional and spiritual boundaries. Some people have to face physical and health issues that they need to overcome. On occasion, we are surrounded by toxic people that we can not stop from poisoning our spirit and we need to stop them at any cost. However, we can only live in this physical world  - without the ability of  reaching out to someone that has fulfilled their purpose here, overcame their boundaries and moved on. We want to be able to touch that person, to have that final conversation, to tell them that the line between our world and theirs is very thin - but in reality, we can not do it verbally. Spiritually, however, we are eternally connected to those we love - something that we should remind ourselves on a daily basis.

This week, someone very special lost their life (may you rest in peace J.) in the most shocking, unfair way. Finding the strength to cope with this loss may be a lifelong journey for the rest of her family and friends. But as the Torah teaches us, we have to find the strength to deal with emotions and challenges that seem impossible. Just like Batya was able to stretch her arms and rescue Moses, we must stretch out our arms to those that are grieving and those that can not comprehend why life's challenges are so abrupt, cruel and unfair. The strength is within us, although the blinding pain is everlasting.

Today, so many people are in need of being emotionally and spiritually stronger that we must all help one another stand firmly on the ground. The post-traumatic effect of cruelty, pain, grief, abuse, death are everlasting (right Fr.?) - but we must find it within ourselves to get back up on our feet and be strong for those that are in this world. Just like Moses became the leader for our people, we all have to live a great life. Our lives are just grains of sand in time and we have to be there for one another unconditionally in order to survive.

After dealing with our grief and being able to set boundaries between the unfairness in life and the hope that it must go on, we live day by day and learn that eventually sorrow will be replaced by smiles again, the cold will be replaced by warmth and death will be replaced by the legacy and footprints of those that are gone.

In Hebrew the word "soger" means to close. This week I learned about the word "close" both in the literal sense and in the spiritual sense (thanks M.). When one door in life closes we look for another way to let light shine into our life, regardless of how dark and hopeless it may seem. And as long as we can overcome our hardships and  boundaries, be strong and leave a legacy behind we can live forever in the hearts of those we left behind.

G-d wants to keep good people for himself also (right F.?), and we will never understand why they have to be taken from us in such a cruel way - after all we are only human.

Dedication: This is dedicated to a beautiful, kind, wonderful young lady who was taken abruptly to the next world without any warning, leaving behind family and friends who love her eternally. There are no words, no explanation. We are all reachingg out to you spiritually and hope that you are at peace. Know we love you unconditionally. May you rest in peace dear. Amen.