By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
SAN DIEGO—The Hebrew month begins with the new moon. It is a time of renewal. This symbolizes the fact that we can always make a new start. We can always shed off our crusty cynicism, and recapture the purity and sincerity of our youth. If we allow ourselves to reflect, there is much we can learn from youth as the following anecdotes illustrate:
A four-year-old child had a next-door neighbor who was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s
yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
Teacher Debbie Moon’s first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different color hair than the other family members. One child
suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, “I know all about adoptions because I was adopted.”
“What does it mean to be adopted?” asked another child. “It means,” said
the girl, “that you grew in your mommy’s heart instead of her tummy.”
As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was.
“We’re behind 14 to nothing,” he answered with a smile.
“Really,” I said. “I have to say you don’t look very discouraged.”
“Discouraged?” the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet”.
Whenever I’m disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott. Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he’d set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. “Guess what Mom,” he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me: “I’ve been chosen to clap and cheer.”
Dedicated by Baruch & Miriam Stehley in honor of their children Aaron, Elie & Talya.
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Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregatio Kehillas Torah in San Diego