Omer Day 13: It takes an individual to raise a community

Graphic: calledintowork.com

The African saying is true: It takes a village to raise a child.

It also takes one individual to raise a community.

One person with drive and vision willing to make a daily commitment to suit up and show up. One person plus one more person plus one more person ... each one willing to make it happen.

The proof? Two unrelated events this week, a funeral and a Yom ha-Shoa observance.

A lovely woman died last Monday. She was just shy of 60, had lived with (emphasis on the "lived") MS for decades and finally succumbed to a raging cancer that cut off her life midstream. At her memorial service on Wednesday, it was noted that she was the center of many circles, and all those circles were represented as we mourned a beautiful life. She was the catalyst that brought us together, and we were interrelated by our awareness of her spirit.

Last night my synagogue presented a documentary about Nicholas Winton, a wealthy Brit who in 1939 rescued 669 Jewish Czech children from certain death as the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. One man did this, one single man with a vision, a mission, and a will.

Am I willing to take on that role today? Be the one individual to help raise and maintain a community day after day after day? Will you join me?

Today is the 13th Day of the Omer with the Kabbalist reflection, the commitment/bonding in discipline.

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