Weather It Is (Giving: Be A Good Husband)

Good Afternoon:

"God has given you to me,"  Mottel the tailor proclaims to Tzeital.  It's a miracle!

On our wedding day we also feel the same.  We look into the eyes of our bride (or groom) and believe in all our heart that this person is everything we need, everything we desired, everything we wished for.

So, we sit back and we wait to receive.

Well, having been married longer than I was, but (hopefully!) not as long as I will be -- I can tell you that it just doesn't work that way.  The reason is simple: giving takes an action, and if you don't give the other person can't receive.

Of course, one doesn't know this when one marries, and it is only after learning on the job -- so to speak -- does one figure this out. One also comes to understand (or appreciate) just what must be given and what should be taken.

So, it was with much consternation that I learned something new about my wife.  Even worse, something that was being taken from her without reciprocity.  Several years my second youngest daughter went with me (by request of the Wife) to bring home a dog.  This dog is quite normal in many ways. For instance, every morning she comes bounding downstairs to partake in the preparation of breakfast.  I carefully remove the end of the loaf and six other slices of bread. The six slices go on the counter, while the end of the loaf (split in two) goes in the mouth of the dog.

Then it happened.  "This bread has no beginning nor does it have an end," says the wife.  "The beginning and the end are my favorite parts of the bread."   Four years we've had this dog! Oh how simple it would have been for me to fulfill my part of the giving by simply giving the ends of the bread to my wife and not the dog!

Well, I've got good news.  I've got something even more important to give to her.  It's sunny and hot, and it's called summer.  Tonight a cool front will pass through our area late tonight and temperatures will fall off to cool summertime levels. However, until then, nighttime temperatures will probably be uncomfortable for sleeping.  So, it is a good night to use a fan or the air conditioner.

Friday will still be warm, but Shabbat morning should dawn with a chill.

But Sunday temperatures should begin a slow but steady rise until the end of the month (with only a small chance for the passage of a weak cool front about a week from now).  The warming temperatures will be in response to the developing heat low over the deserts to our east which will extend its influence westward to cover our area.  The result: we'll be back to today's warm summertime temperatures and be ready to turn the page into July.

Just to note: when someone asks you what has an end but no beginning? Answer: a newly opened package of bread.

Shabbat Shalom,

Barry Lynn