For you were strangers in the land of Egypt . . . Every Passover, Jews are reminded to be kind to the stranger because we were strangers in the land of Egypt and, well, you know what happened and how Charleton Heston had to lead us out with a mighty hand. . . The quintessential Jewish mother’s Midrash on this principle is “be kind to strangers; just don’t TALK to them”.
My sister is not a religious person. She is a spiritual person and that is in my view the important quality. My sister took into her home a very sick former colleague who had no family nearby and is trying to get this person help. Not because of a religious admonishment or directive but because of a spiritual imperative to lend a hand to those in need. She is like my mother (of blessed memory) in that way. She shrugs a silent “whatever” when anyone talks about religion. She, like my mother, does what others only talk about doing. And I only know because my sister had to miss a family dinner to help her former colleague. Otherwise, I might have never known. Because she does what needs to be done because it should be done and not for bragging rights.
Lest you think she is the Flying Nun or Mother Teresa with the glow of G-d upon her, my sister is definitely a real person with bad hair days (less so now that she colors her gray, oops, that shouldn’t appear in print I guess) and a limited attention span for most people. So, a saint she is not.
And still, she heals the world by her very presence among us. My sister, my hero.
