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When we think the ripple effects of October 7th cannot get any more jarring or surprising, somehow the news continues to shock and disturb.

Our colleague Rabbi Dan Levin summed up exactly what many of us have wanted to say about the violent and hateful protests and tent encampments taking over college campuses. You can find his remarks here.

Like many of you, this post October 7 world continues to fill me with rage, fear, and concern. My general demeanor and attitude over the past few weeks have mirrored the state of the world as well as the warfare I am encountering on my social media pages and beyond.

And so…filled with frustration on Monday afternoon, while driving on Roswell Road and listening to podcasts, I got not one, but TWO flat tires. My reaction was much different than it would usually be. I found myself much more irritated and agitated. I would like to say this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of getting a flat tire, but alas, just a few months ago, our dear congregant Jonathan Minnen spent hours in the Temple Sinai parking lot trying to put a spare on my minivan so I could crawl on over to Butler Tire. I stayed calm then. This time, not as much. It was as if this twin puncturing of tires simultaneously, something I had never experienced before, reflected the internal state of my mind and the external state of the world. I felt deflated, literally and figuratively.

I sat on the side of Roswell Road, from 1:00 pm-5:00 pm waiting for AAA to come tow my car. As the minutes passed, I felt myself growing more and more frustrated. I asked myself the questions:  Why did this happen? How much is this going to cost me? Did someone slash my tires? Or was it a pothole that somehow got both of them? And with each inquiry, I felt my heart beat faster and my blood start to boil.

Finally, after 20 minutes of this, I told myself to just stop. Why be angry?  Everything is fine. I am safe. I canceled my appointments. I will make it home, eventually.  I will be fine. And as I leaned into these sentiments, I internalized and externalized this calm.

This made me realize that we often have the power to talk ourselves out of a state of being, and into a different state of being. We believe what we want to believe. And yes, the bewildering protests, the insufferable situation of the hostages, and the continuing war in Gaza are filling us with many difficult emotions. The situation with my tires inspired me to take a step back, to lift my eyes from my phone and my ears from the podcasts and to just breathe.

Each of us can and must use our own strengths to stand up and act in our community, but we must also take a breath. We can say to ourselves, “In this moment, I am fine. In this moment I am okay. In this moment I am safe.” We fill our own cups in order to fill those of others.  Only then can we muster up the courage to have the hard talks, to fight the challenging fights and to continue the work of making our world a beautiful and safe place to be Jewish.

Shabbat Shalom