Pride

Something happened this week that I wanted to share. In the city of La Plata, a month after the devastating floods, a ceremony was held to commemorate the victims. It marked the end of a forum comprised of experts from universities, local institutions, the municipality, the Buenos Aires Provincial Government, and non-governmental organizations, all under the slogan "All for Reconstruction." See the notes in La Plata Site y El Día Newspaper.

I was invited to say a prayer in remembrance of the victims on behalf of the Jewish community of La Plata. In such cases, it is important, in my opinion, not only to say a prayer, but also to draw a lesson, as I have often mentioned in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: that from everything one sees and hears, one should draw a lesson in the service of God. Obviously, before an audience of only three people from the community, it is not appropriate to speak of "service to God" as I usually do, in terms of Torah and Mitzvot, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't consider what Hashem might be trying to teach us...

First, a representative of the Catholic Church spoke. The truth is, he didn't say much more than recite a prayer (which everyone present knew by heart!). Everyone stood and recited it, while the other members of the community who were near me simply stood and listened.

When I was invited to speak, I said, in short, that in these kinds of situations, we must act. As our sages say, the most important thing is action, and we must find a way to immortalize these people who died by doing whatever is necessary to improve the city in their name. In other words, if the city suffered a catastrophe, let's make it better than it was before, so that this never happens again. My prayer was that God would open our minds and hearts so that we would realize that each of us sitting there had the capacity and the power, so to speak, to act and change reality, looking to the future, so that this never happens again.

The event then continued with a man reading several pages of speech, as a kind of memoir of what happened during the days the forum was in operation.

At the end of the event, several people, including the mayor and the representative of the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires, congratulated me for the encouraging words and for making everyone present directly responsible for the improvement of the city.

And here's the lesson: the truth is, I simply conveyed a thought that is current and constant in our beautiful and precious Judaism, as it is lived when one considers and observes the Torah. Nothing new, no grand pronouncements, no show, so to speak... And people were amazed... Even the mayor, in his closing remarks, used the idea of "raising their names so that this never happens again," meaning he basically repeated what I said. And, once again, it's not that I'm claiming to have said or done something new or brilliant; I simply said what any other Jew with a little Torah study would have said...

It is time for us to learn to appreciate what we have, to open our eyes, our minds and hearts to our beautiful Torah, to study it, analyze it and experience it.