The Language of Kindess

Hello,

This is just a quick post to share a cool experience I had today:

I was on my way to the bathroom in a community center and before I got there a women started speaking to me in very fast Hebrew. I was by myself, so clearly she was speaking to me and not someone else. I listened to her attentively, but at first thought she was asking me for charity because the first words I comprehended were חסד "act of kindness" and then she thrust her bag at me. A moment later I caught the word סידור "prayer book" and realized she was asking me to hold her bag while she used the bathroom so she wouldn't have to bring her prayer book in the bathroom with her. (Jewish people have laws regarding the proper treatment of prayer books, and one of them is that it is prohibited to bring them into bathrooms.) Anyway, I of course agreed to hold it for her, and she was very grateful. When she came out she said some nice things to me and I said לילה טוב "goodnight!"

I just wanted to share that because I thought it was so cool that I got to help a woman, and all in Hebrew! :)

היום למדתי שאפשר לעזור לאנשים אפילו שאני לא מדברת עברית כל כך טוב. השפה של חסד יש לה מילים אחרות.
Translation: Today I learned that it is possible to help people even if my Hebrew is not so good. The language of kindness has different words.

Yours etc,
Shira