The Kindness Page was Inspired in October 2023 by an article I read by Rabbi Leslie Y. Gutterman, rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth-El in Providence. It’s about a miracle and the unknown kindness of a human angel. It’s a story that can spread the inspirational act of kindness back into the world one sentence at a time. It’s what the world needed back then and it’s what the world needs now!  Thank you, Rabbi, for sharing your inspirational miracle story on my kindness page.

Needing, and Needing TO BE, The Angels In Our Lives 

A light snow was falling. It was Munich in Nazi Germany. My friend’s great aunt Susie was in a bus when SS Storm Troopers stopped and began examining the identification papers of the passengers. Jews were told to get into a truck around the corner. Susie trembled, tears streaming down her face. The man next to her politely asked why she was crying.

“I don’t have the papers you have. I am a Jew. They’re going to take me.” The man exploded with disgust. He began to scream, “You stupid hag! I can’t stand being near you.” The SS soldiers asked what the yelling was about. “My wife forgot her papers again. She always does this.” The soldiers laughed and moved on. She never saw the man again and never knew his name.

Has someone ever appeared in your life like an angel just when you needed help? Or have you ever filled that role in someone else’s life, maybe even a stranger’s?

There used to be a column in the Washington Post called "Random Acts of Kindness."  Accounts of such acts snowballed. Evidence mounted that wallets and purses were being returned. Strangers ran to someone if they fell. There was a good chance that the angel was of a different color or spoke with a different accent than the victim and wanted nothing in return.

In Jewish tradition, an angel is a heavenly messenger with a special mission. The ancient rabbis say that angels are the name we give to the natural forces God uses to accomplish divine ends. Maimonides, the medieval philosopher, believed that anyone entrusted with a mission could be a divine messenger. 

American author Leo Buscaglia puts it this way:  Scores of people are waiting for someone just like us to come along. They need our compassion, our encouragement, and our unique talents and will live a happier life because we took the time to share what we had to give. 

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or even the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. In other words, there is someone waiting to provide an opportunity for us to become their angel.

Our country is in dire straits.  In the wake of the hostage-taking of a rabbi and four of his congregants, the Jewish community is painfully aware of hate crimes.  Indeed, all crime rates have risen, along with drug overdoses and battles over mask mandates. In a recent column, David Brooks cited the uptick in polarization, hatred, anger and fear.  His analysis is dark: “There is a long-term loss of solidarity, a long-term rise in estrangement and hostility. This is what it feels like to live in a society that is dissolving from the bottom up as much as the top down…  As a columnist, I’m supposed to have some answers.   But I just don’t know right now.”

There may not be easy answers or quick fixes. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have the power to make an impact. We can’t assess the difference that we can make in someone’s life and indeed in our broken world. But that is how the world can become better, by influencing for good one life at a time.

Angels have never been needed more. What are you waiting for?