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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
by Sharon Halper
The world of commerce is overrun
by chubby cherubs, red roses and enticing chocolates. Our focus is on love,
sanctified by Hallmark Cards. It must be February!
While the public celebration of
affection last 24 hours, Jewish teaching reminds us that love extends beyond
our personal beloveds and is a daily, not occasional, value. Demonstrating love
is not a brief affair of the heart, but a holy act. And it extends beyond our
physical and emotional reach to even those whom we might prefer not to embrace
in either way.
How can we understand Leviticus
(19:18) which challenges us with God’s expectation that we are to love our
neighbors as ourselves? How might we model our understanding so that it becomes
part of how we live, who we are and what our grandchildren see of us?
To find out, click here to read the rest of Sharon's piece.
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A Note from Bubbe Sharon
February is a time when we think
about love. I looked up many quotes on love, on loving your neighbor as
yourself. I also looked up quotes on
kindness and even on bullying. One that
I like was by a man name Allan K. Chalmers.
He wrote that the grand essentials of happiness are: something to do,
something to love, and something to hope for.
Can we instill these three
things into the hearts and minds of our grandchildren? Can we help them to know that when they help
others, they feel better themselves?
Can we read a book or see a movie and discuss what it means to our
grandchildren? Be sure to call your
grandchildren and tell them how much you love them. Tell them how proud you are of them. Tell them that who they are makes a
difference to you and to so many people in this world, and that they make a
difference to you and your life.
A couple of short-but-true
stories:
- My 11-year-old grandson,
Michael, is in The Boy Scouts. He needs
to write a brochure in order to get a badge.
He called and asked if he could work with me to write a brochure about
bonding between grandparents and grandchildren.
They could read books together. They could make a “giving” box together
and most important, they should go on outings together at least once a
month. He understands the importance of
love between grandparents and grandchildren.
- Ilene’s, grandson Alec, was
selected youth volunteer of the year from the State of South Carolina out of 5,000
applicants in 5-8th grades. Alec with his grandmother’s help and support has
collected 3,000 books for a local children’s hospital. This has been an ongoing
project for three years and will continue because he knows its importance. Alec will travel all-expenses-paid to
Washington, D.C. for a three-day awards trip, will have a private audience with
one of his senators from South Carolina, will tour the capital city, and
receive an award there. He was told he
could have one person accompany him on the trip. He needed one of his parents to make the
plane trip with him, but wanted his grandmother to come too because of his
love, and because he wanted to honor her collaboration on his project.
- My 12-year-old grandson is
preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. He wrote
a prayer as every youngster does. The
last line of the prayer says, “My greatest hope on this day is that I can
inspire everyone to do a mitzvah in the very near future. It can be even something small, to be kind to
another person, to give something to the poor, or protect the environment—it
can even be turning off a light in your house when you leave the room. Why did he think that was most
important? Perhaps, he thought this
because he is a good soul, or his parents and his friend, and his religious
school and I talk to him about mitzvot.
But whatever is the reason, we are all kvelling, (loving) his viewpoint
on the purpose of Bar Mitzvah.
- What is your story that we can
add to this list? How do your grandchildren
show their love—their love of family, their love of people, their appreciation and
gratitude for all they have?
Sharon
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Social Justice Holiday Guides
The Religious Action Center’s
Program Bank has many suggestions for how to incorporate social justice
holiday themes. Passover will be coming up next month. Take a look at
possibilities for what you might do to incorporate social justice into your
family’s holiday plans. The list also includes social justice themes for
other religious and national holidays throughout the year. Check out the list of holiday guides by
clicking here.
Write a Grandchild Love Letter
 Kids love to hear stories and
especially stories about themselves. Spend an hour and think about the unique
characteristics of your grandchild. What do they do that makes you laugh?
Amazes you? Makes you proud? Do you remember the day they were born? Describe
the excitement in the air. Anything crazy Mom or Dad did? What special talents
in your grandchild make you wonder where they came from? What characteristics
in your little one remind you of an older family relative from long ago? After
an hour, I'm sure you'll have a long list of items and several key items to
frame your letter. Now write that letter! Not a good writer, you say? Then
don't try. Record your feelings on tape and once you're done, simply transcribe
to paper. Don't edit. Don't correct the grammar. Don't criticize your own work.
The best writing is conversational and comes from the heart in any case. And
your letter will be treasured forever.
Thanks to
LoveMyGrandchild.com
for this great activity idea!
Wellness Day 2010
The
Chai Center for Enrichment and Renewal is thrilled to announce Wellness Day
2010: Lech L’cha, Journey to Health & Happiness, at Temple Chai, 1670
Checker Road in Long Grove, Sunday, March 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. The
event will feature a Health Fair, workshops covering a myriad of health and
wellness related topics, and special guest speaker Rabbi Bob Alper presenting: Thanks,
I needed That, The Spirituality of Laughter. Rabbi Alper is a rabbi and
full time stand-up comic heard daily on Sirius/XM radio. He has also been seen
on The Today Show, Showtime and CNN.
The keynote address will explore the physical, psychological, and most of all,
spiritual benefits of laughter in a presentation comprised of a scholarly
overview and a ton of laughs. The event is jointly sponsored by the Chai
Center, Temple Chai Sisterhood and the Levinson Scholar-in-Residence Fund. The
registration deadline for this event is Feb. 28. Food will be available
(pre-ordered only).
For
more information and to register for the event contact the Chai Center at
847-537-1771 x234 or thechaicenter@templechai.org.
Give a Day, Get a Disney Day
Disney Parks isrunning an
excellent promotion called “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day”. Any age 6 or up whom gives a day of
service to a participating organization earns 1 free day at Disneyland
or Disney World!
To participate in this program, visit the Disney
Parks site here and search for an eligible activity using your ZIP code. Activates are also searchable by Interest Areas. Once Disney verifies you’ve completed your
service, you will receive an e-mail coupon you can print and redeem for a 1-day
ticket to one of their parks. This
promotion is only good for the first million participants, so hurry!
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Shower some good will over Chicagoland this spring with Spring Mitzvah Mania!
Serve a meal, visit with seniors, play and exercise with kids and so
much more! Beginning February 22, individuals, families and groups can
sign up for projects running from Sunday, March 14 through Sunday, May
16.
