Well, that was a year, wasn’t it? There is no doubt that 2020 will be burned into our individual and collective memories forever. And so far, 2021 has not started out so well for our community, our country or for our neighbours to the south.
Yet in all of this, there is the basis for hope. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Z”L wrote: “The news is about today. But the great faiths remind us of yesterday and tomorrow. They’re our living dialogue with the past and the future; those two essential things called memory and hope. There’s nothing more guaranteed to make us make the wrong decisions than to live solely in the present, forgetting the lessons of the past and our duty to generations not yet born.”
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And there are bits of today’s news that give us the basis for such hope. Our Israeli brethren are leading the world in vaccinations. The world is looking to Israel for inspiration, guidance, and as a real-world trial of the efficacy of the vaccines. Yesterday, the residents of the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge received their first vaccinations. The opportunity for COVID-19 gloom to lift is at hand.
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We can live in the present, and focus on news of lockdowns, COVID numbers and Rabbi Reuven Bulka’s illness, or we can come together and focus on two of his most essential missions: prayer and kindness. Rabbi Sacks also wrote: “Acts of kindness never die. They linger in the memory, giving life to other acts in return.” On Monday, January 18 at 7:30 pm, there is a Worldwide Prayer Rally, a multi-faith service, for Rabbi Bulka. Please join us as we come together as a united global community to pray on behalf of our great rabbi. To register for this special event, please visit here.
On the subject of kindness, Rabbi Bulka himself said at the dedication of the Kindness Park named in his honour, from the second chapter of Pirkei Avot, “it is not incumbent upon you to finish the job, neither are you free to desist from it.” He explained its meaning as, “there is nobody amongst us who can do everything, but there is nobody amongst us who should do nothing.” He said this passage applies to acts of kindness, of which there are “infinite possibilities.”
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So, as we are sometimes buffeted by the news, both here and away, we must follow the advice of these two most eminent rabbis. Look to the past and remember all that as a worldwide Jewish community that we have accomplished, the adversities we have overcome, and our continuation as a people. We must, individually and collectively, look to the future and all that we must do to secure it. We must continue to educate our children, we must observe the lockdown, and we must plan for that approaching future when hugs are not virtual. In our community, we must remember that the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, its staff, and volunteers work around the clock to support our future. If you have not donated to our Annual Campaign, you can do so here.
You can help a friend or a family member by running an errand, or just calling. You can contribute to or deliver for the Ottawa Kosher Food Bank. As Rabbi Bulka says, when it comes to kindness, there are “infinite possibilities.”
Above all, as we face a difficult winter, we must continue to hope. One thing about winter: it means spring is closer.
From my family to yours, we wish you a healthy and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom.
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Michael Polowin
Chair of the Board of Directors
Jewish Federation of Ottawa
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