Counting the Omer: Day 27 — Foundation of Eternity
Leah Zimmerman
I sat with my 8 year old daughter as she prepared a report for school on her chosen hero, Mother Theresa. She read me a part of the book about Mother Theresa. After a couple of pages, she lowered the book, and looked at me teary eyed, “I want to be like Mother Theresa when I grow up,” she said as she took off her glasses to wipe her eyes. She explained that like Mother Theresa, she also wanted to take care of the poor. I told her that Mother Theresa had a lot of love and compassion, and that she, my daughter, did too. “What is compassion?” she asked. I explained that it was giving caring and love to ease other people’s suffering. “I have A LOT of that!” she exclaimed.
I have been thinking about these feelings that we have, that have no beginning and no end: love, compassion, hope…and more. As we go through this week of Netsach, translated as eternity or enduring, I have been reflecting on how these feelings are always within us, always there. We have an endless supply, even if we sometimes have trouble accessing the supply. What connects us to that eternal supply of love, compassion and hope? How do we lay a foundation for accessing this eternal supply?
I am not sure I have the answer, but as I look into the eyes of my 8 year old daughter who has so much in her heart and aspires to share it with others, I feel love, compassion and hope as well. I can only hope that by sharing my feelings with my daughter, by allowing them to show, that I lay a foundation for her that will enable her to connect to her own supply of these feelings
