It Couldn't Hurt if you tried

Hello my dawlinks!  It's your Yenta again, and it's been a very interesting week.  This time I saw the Rheumatologist and yes, bubbelehs, he actually listens to his mother when they talk and he too was very surprised that the chicken soup didn't solve my virus a few weeks ago.  He's a real mensch (Yiddish for a good man), very caring, very knoweldgable.  Not Jewish though, who would've thought.

First let me say, Shabbot Shalom!  It's Friday night and I'm breaking all the rules by being here, writing this but I think G-d will understand since this is for all of us.  Shabbot Shalom is Hebrew and means peaceful Sabbath or good Sabbath.  For us, the Jewish people, the Sabbath begins Friday evening at sunset and ends Saturday at sunset.  A full 24 hours. 

I was going to write something else that happened this week but decided to do this instead because to be honest with you, though the other subject is very important you need to understand this first.  Your Yenta isn't the most observant Jewess but I do strive to be a mensch.  There are 613 commandments in the Torah that we're supposed to do through out our lives.  Think about that.  613!  I can't remember the first ten and that's not because of my age, dawlinks!  So, to compensate I do a mitzvah (Hebrew for a good deed) everyday.  It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be monitary; it could be a simple smile, a handshake, recognition of somesort but it has to come from the heart.  That's a mitzvah.

G-d does mitzvahs for us everyday that we just go about our days and don't take notice of.  But on Shabbot, we notice.  We take stock.  Nothing man made is touched, no lights, no TV, no computer (oops), no oven, no laundry, no taring of toilet paper, no electricity of any sort.  We appreciate one another, we talk, sing, laugh, debate (oy! do we debate!), but most of all we share ourselves, our real selves. And we thank G-d for all this and all we have.

All we have and that includes our turmoils. Yes, you've read that correctly and I'll wait while you read that again if you wish.  You're pain is a gift.  You may not think so, you may curse the day it happened, you may even curse G-d for it, but it is a gift.  It's taught you a great deal.  It's brought you new understanding, new friends, new experiences that you wouldn't have had otherwise.  Yes, it's extremely painful.  Yes, you'd rather not have it - I understand that, I'd rather not have it either - but if I didn't I wouldn't have all of you. 

So on this Shabbot, when I'm saying my prayers and thanking G-d for everything and everyone I will include a thank you for my pain.  For without my pain, I'd be a lonely old hippie woman named Yenta.  Try thanking G-d once in a while, it couldn't hurt.

Your

Yenta