The Blessings in Our Hands

In the final quarter of 2025, I took matters into my own hands and had hand surgery: my right one in September and its left mate in December.

It’s worked out well, as I continue to heal and dodge family and friends’ unsolicited comments about their own surgeries and regrets.

I blew shofar for the high holidays with one hand, listened and prayed without holding a prayer book for a while and tried to smile politely when jokes of my “boxing” exploits were described to get laughs among any group who would listen.

But when I finally got back to typing on my computer for an essay such as this, I realized that I gravitate to language from our liturgy about “our hands” as symbols of service, blessing and gratitude.

I quote passages here, marked in bold type, from Mishkan T’Filah, a Reform movement siddur (prayer book), published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis:

• “Bind them as a sign on your hand . . . ” — as evidenced in the v’ahaftah
• “That there is no way to get from here to there except by joining hands, marching together . . . .” — the idea that we must go together today, as our ancestors did when they left Egypt and walked into the Sinai desert, toward a better place, the promised land.

And there are the many other examples throughout the siddur that speak of the capabilities of hands:

• “May the work of their hands endure . . .”
• “. . . let my hands know the privilege of righteous deeds . . . . ”
• “May my hands reach out in kindness . . . .”

It is all these references that lead me to think of spring and how, in a few months’ time, Temple B’nai Torah in Wantagh, New York, will hold a day of community service – our Mitzvah Day. It is like many annual events: the trick is you start planning for the next Mitzvah Day 24 hours after the latest one is done.

Although labor intensive, it is the work of many hands – collecting donations, sending forms and emails, driving to make deliveries, setting up tables and communicating with the congregation — that makes this effort extraordinary and all the “behind the scenes” work invisible.

And it is from these hands that righteous deeds occur as we put down our cell phones, ignore our usual busy days and take time to think about others and their needs in tangible ways.

This year we will collect food, create “cheer” packages for those elders confined to their homes, cook for the guests at the Ronald McDonald House and perform a myriad of other volunteer activities that will touch a variety of communities within our Nassau County locale.

Though our tasks may not appear as grand as the poetic prayers we read, relying on the work of our hands harkens us to remember that deeds have purpose and one day can act as the model for a way of living, Jewishly.

“For the good in us, which calls us to a better life, we give thanks. For the strength to improve the world with our hearts and our hands, we offer praise . . . .”

Lauren is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.