A Snowy Night of Learning

Earlier this week, I went to the Aish center for a night of learning in the merit of my friend, E., who I blogged about last month. Here's a little refresher: We learned at Aish several years back, he moved to Israel almost 3 years ago, recently got married, and was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

The first mini-lecture was on teshuva (repentance), the most interesting part of the lecture for me was hearing how the need for teshuva goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. When G-d asked Adam if he ate from the tree of good and evil, he basically said it was Eve's fault. When Eve was asked why she ate from the tree, she blamed the snake. The urge to shift responsibility to someone or something else when we make a mistake seems to be ingrained. We have to fight very hard to go against that nature and to own our errors and better yet, to take a different, better course of action when we are confronted with the urge to make that same mistake again.

The next lecture was on chesed (kindness). Most of the points made were obvious but important to hear. It seems the things we take for granted are the ones we easily forget about. Showing kindness to all Jews is paramount but very easy to forget. It is easy to focus on the external trappings of Judaism but harder to focus on getting to know the person's neshama (soul). When we treat each other badly, we suffer the consequences.

The last lecture focused on the mitzvah of bikur cholim (visiting the sick). The most important point I took from this lecture was the bikur cholim is about the person who is ill, it is not about you! Visit when it is convenient for the person who is ill, not for you. If they want to talk, let them. If they don't want to talk, that's okay too. Ask what needs to be done (cleaning, buying magazines, getting food).

I had the chance to see some people who I haven't seen in years. I wish we had a better reason to meet but I hope the next time we all get together like this is for a happy occasion. If anyone wants to say a prayer on behalf of my friend, E., please ask me in the Comments section and I'll be happy to give you his Hebrew name.