November 10, 2020

Over the past several months, one word has been floating around in the air, and that word poked its head out in a very big way this past week. That word is…patience.

 

If you think about it, we have been asked to be patient as the world deals with a pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen for over 100 years. We have asked our children to be patient as they had events and experiences stripped from them this past spring, into the summer as normal activities had to be put on hold, and this same environment has continued into the fall. From the looks of things, with the reported spikes health officials are seeing, we are going to need to continue to be patient until life returns to some sense of normalcy once the development of a vaccine is approved, distributed, and administered to the world population. Until that time… we need to continue to be patient.

 

While our patience has been tested these past almost nine months due to COVID, we were asked again this past week to be patient as the results of our 2020 elections were being decided. Whoever you voted for, whatever party you affiliate or are closely aligned with, I believe we can all agree that the democratic ideal of making sure each vote made should be counted, as long as it was done properly and within the framework set out by each state's guidelines. But to be forced to wait for the results was nerve-wracking and so many people were having a hard time being patient.

 

Our patience as a society is definitely being pushed to its limits in 2020, and yet, we continue to deal with situations as they come and handle them the best we can. As a child, I remember how excited I was when Hanukkah was approaching. Although it used to feel like I just couldn’t wait until the date arrived, I knew it would because there was a specific date.

 

I think if we knew when that “date” of when we no longer needed to be patient would arrive, we would be able to deal with all of this waiting. Sadly, we do not know. All we can do is try our best to follow recommendations and guidelines because by doing it, we might be able to make the date arrive just a little sooner. I do know that if we don’t, then that date will continue to be pushed further and further away, thus making it later than any of us would like.

 

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I want to change gears onto something completely different. We are currently in the midst of remembering Kristallnacht which took place on November 9 and 10 in 1938. It is important to mark past events such as this because the further we get away from them, the less likely we will remember the impact they had. Plus, it continues to remind the world of what can happen when hate goes unchecked. I do love that tomorrow, on November 11, is Veterans Day and we honor people who made incredible sacrifices to protect freedoms and fight against hate. To all of our veterans in our community, on behalf of our local Jewish community…. Thank you!

 

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