蜜芽传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rabbi Charley Baginsky

Good morning!

The other day I found an old photograph tucked between the pages of a book. I did not even remember owning the book, never mind the photo. It was of a day ten years ago when my kids were very small, and I could not get them to pose for a picture. In the end, I gave up and started taking a selfie. The moment they saw me, they jumped in, laughing.

And then something happened. Looking at that photo, I could suddenly smell the suntan lotion on their small heads and feel the stickiness of ice lollies on their fingers pressed against my face, the smell of pure joy. It was as though no time had passed at all.

In Jewish thought, there is a word, "zicharon", meaning remembrance. It is not only about facts or dates, but about bringing the past alive in the present. The memories that do this are not always the grand ones.

Sometimes it is the sound of a song, the smell of a kitchen, the feel of a familiar jumper.

I am grateful for the unexpected ways memory finds us. These moments remind me that joy is still possible, that kindness is worth offering, that the love we have known still shapes the life we live now.

May we stumble upon something today, a picture, a smell, a taste, that reminds us of what is good. And may that reminder carry us gently forward into whatever lies ahead.

Amen.

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