Seeking Compassion: A Must-Read for Challenging Times

"Compassion, compassion is what I'm asking for in confronting painful realities, in this experience that feels unbearably hard. It breaks records of pain, the spirit and soul cry out, 'Enough already, this is too much to bear.'

"We are all part of one living human tapestry, and it's vital for us to cultivate a movement of the soul infused with the elements of compassion."

What makes up compassion, according to her? Three components: "Generosity of the human heart, the ability to see the good, to think positively and to judge favorably both myself and the fellow Jew standing before me—simply because he is Jewish, regardless of his actions, successes, or mistakes."

The second component is understanding that to err is human, even when the mistake is bitter and terrible, and its consequences are unbearably painful."

The third component is 'limiting it to the here and now': "To understand that the suffering, pain, and intensity of our encounters with them occur and can be confined to the here and now. They don't have to remain with us in the same way or intensity all the time, and they don't define who and what we are. We can limit and frame the intensity of our emotional pain, thereby balancing it and dulling its ability to continue hurting us."

How can we awaken compassion within us towards others and ourselves, especially now, when the cries of our brothers reach us from the earth, and our souls are aching, bleeding, and contracting?

"The small movement that is possible amid all these contractions of pain is a movement in the mind of imagination and memory. A memory of a warm human embrace, given generously and gently. A memory of seeing things positively, and a kind word being enough to ease things, even slightly.
The memory that even severe mistakes with very painful consequences are human errors, and we are all only human.
The recognition that the painful reality is temporary, and at any moment there can be a turn in the plot,
throughout all this, praying that the turn leads to blessing and relief.

And here and now, choosing to remember the words of one of the mothers,
"Choosing the light, between the pit and the light."
And remembering that we are commanded to choose the presence of light on earth, upon the ground.

"I call upon the heavens and the earth today; life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Compassion towards our people, towards our soldiers, even those who err, and towards grieving families, is truly an active translation of choosing life and blessing.
May it be so," she concludes.