I learned much from my teachers, more from my books, and most from my troubles.
- Kaminer, Baraitot de Rabbi Yitzhak
Anger deprives a sage of his wisdom, a prophet of his vision.- Rabbi Simeon b. Lakish, Talmud: Pesahim, 66b
The service had just started and I was standing in the back of the Santuctary, feeling G-d Presence beginning to wash over me when a man walked up to me and breaking the mood, grabbed me by my shoulders and patting them.
First; the men that touch an Orthodox woman are family memebers, and if not no female is avaiable, male doctors.
Silly me: I thought I was about to recieve an encouraging word when he said; "I am going to have to follow you home to get my tapes back." Yes, he offered to loan me tapes for my mum to listen to. And I confess, I have kept forgetting to bring them the back several weeks.
Not like I'd had anything else on my mind; like my husband in a war zone. I keep forgetting that the return of this gentleman's tapes is the most pressing matter in my life.
So, I shall put them into the tote bag that I take for Torah study and keep them until I run into this gentleman again. That way I can relieve him of the stress of worrying about beloved his tapes.
Usually, just an action would have result with a slap to the face.
But...
Sometimes, you just have to laugh.
As the morning wore on, people would stop to ask me how Mark was. Try hearing "How's Mark?" repected over and over and over again for 45 minutes and you have some idea as to how I felt.
But instead of protesting (why? what good would it do?) I just smile, answer the question and move on.
People often don't think before they don't speak.
And it is left to me to be the gracious one.
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