Responses to Central Park

Last month’s subject: Bringing God into – Central Park, evoked a lot of responses from Ayeka readers.

Here are 2:

My Zadie who passed away in 1999 used to give money to lots of different people who would come to his office. Some of my family members would go crazy. What is wrong with you? They are scamming you? Something he used to say has always stuck with me. He would respond with “You never know who is the righteous one.”
Sharna Marcus

Hi, Aryeh–this was a beautiful post. I had a similar experience a couple of days ago. I called for a cab and it was pretty late at night. I caught the tail end of the driver’s call, and he was clearly upset about something. Then I thought about how much longer the driver had left on his shift and that he had no one to speak with about whatever was upsetting him. So I took a chance and made a comment that left him on opening to talk. As it turned out, he was distressed that his ex-wife didn’t have a few dollars to give to his daughter for the bus, who was starting a summer internship the next day . . . After talking I think that we both felt strengthened about the challenges of raising children and the importance of being there for them unconditionally. We left each with a blessing for our children and suddenly a stranger and I had a connection (and I of course gave him an oversized tip “for his daughter.”).

Did it help–did it change the world? Who really knows, but I have a feeling that this exchange did change us a little bit, and that’s enough.
Rabbi Hayim Herring