“I Wish You Enough”

"I Wish You Enough"

From the Heart

June, 2013

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor

 

My Dear Congregation,

 

I really had a different message for this bulletin article. It was based on that which a colleague wrote to his congregation several decades ago which I came across and saved. It would have followed directly from last month's reflections. Yet, with the matter of my successor unsettled and my role in the coming months unclear, that message will wait to be written. Instead I offer you these heartfelt thoughts.

 

They are based on a piece that was shared among my colleagues. In it a mother and daughter are parting in an airport and after hugging and kissing, the mother says to her daughter: "I wish you enough." The daughter responded "I wish you enough, too." The author of this piece overheard this exchange and after the daughter departed, respectfully inquired of the mother to the strange language and asked "What does this mean?" The mother explained that this might have been the last time that they saw each other alive and they invoked an age old family tradition. She said: "When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them."

 

This piece moved me greatly, so at this juncture in our lives, not knowing exactly the path that lies before us, I say to each and every person "I wish you enough."

 

I wish you enough faith in God so that life will be meaningful and the journey will have purpose; that you will His love near you everyday.

 

I wish you enough years of health and happiness to make the journey of life fulfilling.

 

I wish you enough happiness to bring joy to your faces, no matter how many wrinkles.

 

I wish you enough smiles to counterbalance the tears that are sure to come.

 

I wish you enough friends so that there will always be a smiling face, open arms, a loving heart to accompany you through life.

 

I wish you enough celebrations so that love can felt between generations and between friends.

 

I wish you enough strength to face each challenge that life presents, so that each will be faced bravely and courageously.

 

I wish you enough of God's blessings, for all that you ask.

 

I wish you enough.

 

Shalom.