Many people have shared with me increasing feelings of distress, anxiety, fear, and even despair.  I certainly don’t have a cure-all, and I doubt such a thing exists.  But our tradition has many spiritual resources that can bring comfort, respite, inspiration, and renewal, even in such times.  Here are two:

• Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose Yahrzeit we just observed, wrote about Shabbat as an island, palace, and sanctuary in time.  For one day, we are to let go of cares and worries, of to-do lists and hurrying, and instead, through the miracle of gratitude, enter an imaginative realm where we experience the world as it could be rather than as it is.  To fully experience the blessings of Shabbat requires discipline — it is not easy for us to slow down, to unplug, to set aside our appetites for a day.  But if we put some effort in, the reward is manifold.  Try joining us tonight to feel the difference it could make to how you experience the rest of the week.
• A second spiritual resource can be found in the very name of our synagogue — Hesed.  One way to translate Hesed is compassionate kindness.  Just as on Shabbat, we imagine how the world could be and do our best to act in accordance with that ideal, with Hesed, we extend kindness not only to those who are kind and loving but to all.  We compassionately imagine everyone as their best self and respond in kind to that ideal image, even when we doubt it will ever become manifest. That overflowing compassion goes out even to those — perhaps especially to those — we are distressed by.  It includes ourselves, even when — perhaps especially when — our sense of self-worth is at its nadir.

Try repeating to yourself, may you be blessed with Hesed. Direct it at those who have acted kindly to you, toward those who have not, and not least toward yourself, because when we are not compassionate towards ourselves, we cannot sustain compassion to others.