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Rabbi Sally Olins

Rabbi Sally's Most Recent Column from our Newsletter, Chai Lights

Every Life Makes a Difference

A story is told about Sir Michael Costa, a symphony conductor of a generation or so ago.  During the playing of a symphony, at a moment when the hall was filled by the thunder of the mighty organ, the roll of the great drums and at the peak of a climactic crescendo, the piccolo player said to himself, “With so much volume, my little instrument doesn’t really matter,” so he stopped playing.  Suddenly, the maestro signaled the orchestra and the music came to an abrupt halt. The stillness of that moment was broken by Costa shouting, “Where is the piccolo?”

None of us is so small or so insignificant that our sound is not heard or our silence is not lamented.  Every life makes a difference in the complex design of immediate and ultimate events.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “It is expected of each individual to share in the actions and passions of his or her time under the penalty of being judged not to have lived.

Never forget the significance of the meaning of your life!

With much affection,