Listener, learner, thinker - leading to better actions.

Tonight I said a blessing

near your mother, who asked,
“The Mets won?”
Worthy of a blessing for sure.
“…who gives us life, who stands us up, who brings us to this time…”
was for your and my conversation
about car maintenance.
“I just talked to our son about what he noticed needed repair on your car,”
(the one he drives daily),
“It makes a noise by the axle when I turn left in the rain.”
“The right side window doesn’t work.”
“The maintenance light sometimes goes on.”
I jotted all the automotive symptoms down on my phone
so I could dutifully report them when I bring the car in.
The normal things, done for the first time, together,
little sparks of holiness,
raised up with a blessing.
Thank you my son.

(9 October 2024)

About the Author

Rabbi Jonathan Freirich, a Reconstructionist and Reform rabbi, with training in public policy and community organizing, originally from New York City, now coalition-builds, facilitates, listens, learns, and writes in Buffalo, New York. Dedicated to compassion and cooperation, thoughtfulness and thinking, and effective collaborative actions, Jonathan aims to contribute to a better connected, more peaceful, and more sustainable world.