“It’s a wonder,” she writes, “I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”
We are not so different from one another. In the face of suffering and in the wake of bloodshed, all the little fights between people, all the arguments and bitter feelings, all the ill and malice that polarizes us are so trivial and insignificant. All that we think sets us apart disappears to give way to this power of brotherhood. In the end, all that matters is love and peace. When all is brought to real focus, what remains is that which defines us as human beings created in G-d’s image – the good we are able to draw out of each other.
Allow yourself to love unconditionally and find a place for every human being in your heart without prejudice. The Jewish nation is only worthy of Torah when it is first worthy of its humanity.
As the navi Yeshayahu so eloquently articulated: “… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
* * * * *
Over the past three years, Skylake Synagogue has turned from a shul into a kehillah, becoming not only a first-class synagogue with a rapidly growing membership, but also into a meeting place for religious, social, educational, cultural, and family events. Its members include Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Americans, Israelis and Latinos from all over South America.
* * * * *
Capital: Tallahassee
State Nickname: The Sunshine State
State Motto: In God we trust
State Flower: Orange Blossom
State Bird: Mockingbird
First Shul: Ahavath Chesed in Jacksonville, and Temple Beth-El in Pensacola each has claims to being the oldest Jewish congregation in Florida. The Jacksonville congregation was meeting for prayer by 1867.
Baseball Teams: Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays
Basketball Teams: Orlando Magic, Miami Heat
Football Teams: Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Hockey Teams: Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning