Not a command from a judge in a heated courtroom. A state of being. A moment of awareness and higher consciousness.
With all of the lights, the buzz, gadgets, and advertisements all bombarding our senses and pulling our attention every which way, it can really be a chaotic experience. How to make sense of it all? Does it actually make sense? Does this world have a plan, or is it totally random?
So this week at Petaluma Hebrew we explored A Moment of Silence. Taking a minute at the beginning of our day - for students, this can even be part of the morning routine in school - to stop, and bring everything into focus. A chance to think about the greater good, who we are, why we're here. That we matter. That Hashem does indeed have a plan, and that we are center stage, and play a major role in it.
If we all - especially the youth - started our day thinking about how to make the world a better place, imagine the added peace and goodness it would bring. Maybe, just maybe, we would see less violence, prejudice, vitriol, and bigotry. Perhaps, in the place of school shootings and classroom or online bullying, we might see random acts of kindness and love.