I am going to tell you a secret. Many people do not know or understand the secret I am about to tell you, but I hope you get it. Ready: Rabbis are people too. That’s right; we experience joy, happiness
and wonder. We also experience grief, sadness and tragedy. One of the many things I hear from congregants is, “Wow, I do not know how you are able to go from an extremely high time to an extremely low time, sometimes in the same day. I couldn’t do it…” You know what? It is NOT easy. However, one of the most important aspects of being a rabbi is the need to be human. I do cry; I do jump for joy. When celebrating a joyous life cycle event with congregants, I am often soooooo overwhelmingly overjoyed. And, the opposite is true too – when helping congregants deal with the emotions of pain, I often feel pain. So, how am I able to be strong during these moments? How am I able to help congregants gain clarity when it seems impossible? Because, I, too, have experienced pain, grief and tragedy.
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