Love Is All You Need

1. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is seeking some happiness for (his or her) life."

2. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in (his or her) life."

3. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness, and despair."

4. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is seeking to fill (his or her) needs."

5. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is learning about life. On these High Holy Days we come to the synagogue to be reminded of what is most important in life. I’ll conclude with this reminder, all you need to remember, not from a Jewish source, but words of wisdom to guide our days, “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind..”<6> A GLIMPSE INTO THE INFINITY OF THINGS. . . ". . . through the awakening of love we get a glimpse into the infinity of things. . . "- D.T. Suzuki Love your neighbor as yourself.- Leviticus 19:18 The world endures because of three things- Torah, worship and acts of lovingkindness.- Pirke Avot 1:2 Anyone who is not compassionate with people is certainly not a descendant of our ancestor Abraham.- BT Beytza 32b Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Yehoshua were on their way out of Jerusalem. Seeing the destroyed Temple, Rabbi Yehoshua exclaimed, “How awful for us- the place where the sins of Israel could be forgiven lies in ruins.” Rabbi Yochanan replied, “My son, do not grieve. We have another, equally effective from of atonement.” “What is it?” “Acts of kindness, for it is written, ‘I desire kindness, not sacrifice’.”- Avot d’Rabbi Natan, 4:21 This is what the Holy One said to Israel: My children, what do I seek from you? I seek no more than that you love one another and honor one another.- Tanna b’Bai Eliyahu Express compassion when you encounter: the impoverished, the poor, and the diseased; with people who are outside the mainstream of society, who do not know how to improve their lot, who do not know how to conduct themselves, who are imprisoned by enemies, who have lost great fortunes, who regret having transgressed, and who weep for the consequences of their sins.- Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda One’s compassion should extend to all creatures, and one should neither despise nor destroy them, for the wisdom above extends to all of creation- inanimate objects, plants, animals, and humans.- Tomer Devorah Just as we love ourselves despite the faults we know we have, so should we love our neighbors despite the faults we see in them.- Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov You occasionally see Jews learning as much Torah as they can. . . But if they do not set aside part of the day to do acts of kindess- they are fools.- Chofetz Chayim It is not true that love makes all things easy, it makes us choose what is difficult.- George Eliot A religious man is a person who holds God and man as one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel The Kindness Meditation: May this person be safe. May this person be happy. May this person be healthy. May this person live with ease. The Compassion Meditation:

6. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is seeking some happiness for (his or her) life."

7. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in (his or her) life."

8. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness, and despair."

9. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is seeking to fill (his or her) needs."

10. With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: "Just like me, this person is learning about life. <1> Morinis, Alan, Everyday Holiness, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2007, p. 187 <2> Winter, Angela, “The One You’re With, The Sun, July 2014, p. 4 <3> quoted in Shapiro, Rabbi Rami, The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing , 2011, pp. 129-130 <4> Siegel, Danny, “A Rebbi’s Proverb,” Unlocked Doors, NY: The Town House Press, 1983, p. 2 <5> Netivot Shalom,vol. 1, p. 99 <6> Henry James