State of Emergency

Boston is in a state of emergency.

At 5:00pm on Shabbat a major water vane broke, thirty Massachusetts communities’ water supplies were compromised. I found out about this while walking to the Kollel for mincha. The Boston police drove through my community and announced it. When they did I wondered why they were driving through, it didn’t seem like they would have to. After all, all they had to do to get the word out was put it online, the radio, TV, etc. The only reason I could think of that they had to drive through and make an announcement was because it was Shabbat and we would have had no way of knowing what was going on otherwise.

That is exactly why they did it.

The police drove through all the religious Jewish communities and made announcements specifically for us. That made me think about how beautiful a place America is. Despite its problems it’s an amazing country. The powers that be went out of their way for a small minority group just to be sure we would be safe.

There are times I dream of Israel, it’s an ideal and everyone has one. When I was younger I dreamed of Australia just like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Too often that ideal blinds me from seeing what is right in front of my eyes, what is beautiful. Boston is in a state of emergency, but I have a smile on my face.