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Good afternoon, Chaverim, 

This week started with our annual celebration of the birthday, life and work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.  For most of us, Covid again impacted our ability to gather, sing, celebrate and worship together with our friends at Main Line Reform Temple and Zion Baptist Church and limited how we could participate in our annual day of service in honor of Dr. King.  And this very same week has ended with a vote in the Senate that puts a significant piece of Dr. King’s life’s work at serious risk.   All in all, I cannot help but feel more than a little disappointed by the way this week went down.  I suspect I am not the only one in our community who is feeling this way.  

But, here comes Dr. King to help us out of this funk… 

Here is today’s Gratitude Thought in the Middle of a Pandemic:


“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ahhhhh, that’s right, there will always be disappointments.  That’s the way life actually works.  That’s the way the universe works.  Things don’t always work the way we want them to work.  People don’t always behave the way we think they should…or wish they would.  And, things evolve slowly over a timeline the end of which is often well beyond our sight.  

So, it is with deep gratitude that we turn again to Dr. King for inspiration at this time of disappointment.  His voice rings out across the years to remind us again that, not only must we “accept” our “finite disappointments” with grace and equanimity (even though they may feel overwhelming and anything but finite!), but, most importantly, we must “never lose infinite hope”… we must endlessly maintain our hope and faith, that someday, somehow things WILL be better and that elusive justice will finally, inevitably prevail.  

In the meantime, we must gather our resources, overcome our disappointments, fill our hearts with hope, fight the good fight, “make some noise”, get into a little “good trouble”, and  relentless pursue the “tzedek”our Torah obligates us to pursue.

Love and Shabbat Shalom to all, 
Marci