Resilience & Abundance

About two weeks ago, a really sweet elderly Jewish lady turned to me and said:

” Someone said to me — It’s not good to be a Jew these days.”

I replied: “ It may be tough, but I consider us fortunate to be a part of such a great and Resilient nation with standards, rather than being part of  a world that displays severe moral deficit and decay.”

Resilience and identity are connected.

May I just say: The Israeli people — the  Jewish people, they are simply beautiful!

They set the tone, they set the lead.

We recently experienced such a painful week where hostages bodies were brought back to our land- may they rest in peace. A time where the evil murder of a young innocent mother and her little ones  seared through us all. Yet on the day of their funeral so many Israelis stood along the road with multitudes of orange balloons, showing respect, care and love. A new Torah was written. Every Jew across the globe was sharing in this pain, love and support.

No matter how hard they try to destroy us , we still preserve the moral high ground, we still build, we shine light, we celebrate life and show true honor to those no longer with us.

Even with the tribulations we must preserve the high ground.

’Recently our local rabbi was giving his sermon and included a story about a Holocaust survivor who was severely beaten and yet still kept his moral high ground, despite the repetitive beating. It baffled the SS soldiers. Our rabbi described that the reason we are so hated as Jews is that we represent a conscience, and that is a reminder and not everyone wants a reminder.

Resilience is our identity. And Israel is our homeland. We are not invaders, we are not colonialists , crusaders or Europeans. We are just Jews with a G-d given homeland.

Resilience  is our identity and our healing is through the recognition of Abundance. Resilience allows us to recover from difficult situations.

Abundance is all around us. It is in all of the gifts. It is  found in the beauty of light, sky , water, nature, that is the quiet harmony.

If only. If only more of the world would stop focusing on the have nots and rather more on the Abundance.

“Oseh Shalom Bimromav.” Gratitude builds a bridge to Abundance. This is what we ask for: “ Hu Yaasaeh Shalom Aleinu”. May he bring peace upon us.

Examples of Resilience: trying to maintain a positive perspective, viewing challenges as learning opportunities, regulating emotions and focusing on what you can control.

An example of a resilient woman in the Torah :

Esther Hamalkah — Queen Esther

The Jews were on the edge of being annihilated, Yet Esther risked her life to save them. She is one of the greatest examples of G-dly resistance.

Resilience is a gift from G-d :

Psalms urges believers to always bless the Lord even when facing adversity.

Purim reminds us that one person who stands up to antisemitism, to hatred, can save a generation .

Psalms 34;13 “ Who is the man who desires life, who loves days to see goodness?”

We celebrate Purim. We are here, We are lights, we celebrate survival , resilience  and abundance.

Wishing everyone a harmonious  and abundantly joyous Purim.