Yesterday I was saying to friends on a Zoom call that one of the things we need most now is a sense of meaning - the suffering is so enormous. I’m helping with mask making in our town, giving tzedukah, checking in on friends, continuing my work mentoring rabbis, offering appreciation to loved ones and strangers, but I yearn to do more. This morning I received an unususal and very moving email sent by a NY hospital chaplain to her synagogue community.
Dear Chevre,
We are living through an unstable and upsetting time. The COVID19 virus has changed our sense of safety and altered the lens through which we see the world around us as strangers and people we know are sickening and dying.
The morgues in every hospital in New York City are housing the bodies of many deceased individuals. Most hospitals have created morgue extensions. When walking past the Morgue Extension made up of refrigerator trucks at my hospital, I was reminded of reading psalms at the Medical Examiner’s office after 9/11. Different circumstances and yet some startling similarities.
Our Jewish tradition offers us many ways to help regain a sense of agency and balance even during this time when everything is upended.
Would you join me in the practice of Shmira, of reciting psalms to guard these bodies until they are removed for burial? I can only imagine that the souls of those lost to this and other illness during this time are disoriented, destabilized, and hurting.
[The tradition of shmira is for people to stay with the body round the clock reciting psalms until the burial. Normally shmira takes place in a funeral home in the presence of the deceased, but obviouosly in these circumstances, Shmira would take place from your home or sheltered location. If you need a resource, Sefaria has all 150 Psalms: https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms?lang=bi ]
If you are able to read or chant or meditate for 30 minutes or more, one time or more, please click the SignUp Genius scheduler below.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E45ADAB2AAAFD0-reading1 [Please scroll all the way down to see the 24 hour available time slots.]
With gratitude,
Linda Golding
Blessings to all - may you find meaning and centerdness in the day, time and space to notice and enjoy the small pleasures of birds and flowers and kindness.
What kindness have you been able to offer others in this time? What kindness has been bestowed on you? What beauty can you see looking out your window? How might you add to the beauty in your day?