Take Notice

I often tell people not to worry what other people think of you - because people aren't thinking much of you. Really.

This was brought home to me when I returned from a month long stay in the US. I live in a relatively small neighborhood and daven almost every tfilla in the same shul but almost nobody noticed my absence. The gabbai on shabbos gave me shishi which is a great aliyah and this week it was the bracha to Yaakov. I told him "You gave it to me because I was gone for so long". He  replied "I didn't know you were gone".

:-)

But there is a down side to not being thought about. To wit; The weather here in Israel is FREEEEEZING and stormy with heavy rains [just had some THUNDER!!]. This morning after I went off to shul, a friend knocked on my door and asked my wife יש לך מעיל לבת שלי - Do you have a coat for my daughter [and he said her name]? Meaning, they are so poor that they cannot afford to purchase a coat for their 13 year old daughter [I know their situation first hand]. I have been living for the last 3 years on no income [and much Divine mercy] so I am not exactly in a position to help them but it pains me [and I am sure you, too] that a Jewish child cannot own a coat because of her families poverty. Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if people noticed others so much that nobody lacked the basics. There is more than enough money in Klal Yisrael to ensure that nobody should lack the basics, yet so many do. That is the concept of NOTICING others. Who lacks. Who is in pain. Who is alone. Who is sad. Who needs a good word. To escape from the prison of the Self.

I often feel that it is often an awfully cold world where so many people are so self-absorbed that they can't see past their own narrow existence.

Yaakov Avinu said in this weeks parsha אכן יש ה' במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי - This can mean that indeed when G-d is in this place, I don't know myself, ואנכי לא ידעתי. If we are aware of Hashem, we become so small and meaninngless and only then can we truly connect to Him and others......