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As I was busy cutting the video I shot of Katie’s Spring Band Concert (where she totally rocked that French Horn even though she was shielded by a huge music stand!), I was thinking of today being another very special day for a very special young lady.

As Katie gets inducted into her school’s Beta Club this evening, I will be thinking of my cousin Hannah who will be walking across the stage at her graduation ceremony near St. Louis.

A ceremony we weren’t entirely sure she was going to attend when her school district originally scheduled it on Shabbat which coincides this year with the Jewish holiday Shavuot. However, our troublemaker of the very best kind gathered a petition and managed to persuade the school board with peace and love to think of the significant Jewish population of her school and return the ceremony to its customary date so that all of her fellow students would not have to choose between their faith and their moment on the stage.

And so I was off to find a prayer of peace and healing for her befitting this special day.

One suggestion was “r’fuah shlamah” and I really like that one but it wasn’t quite what I was aiming for though I can think of several people for whom it would be appreciated!

Then I stumbled across this one:

Prayer for Peace (Rabbi Harold Kushner)

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.
Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color.
Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness.
So that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as ur neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven.

And I really liked that one and we’re certainly getting closer to what I was aiming for…but it’s still not quite what I was hoping to say.

And then it dawned on me…Shavuot itself was the key and the answer to the journey. The holiday has a dual purpose…not only is it the celebration of the giving of the Torah to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai but also coincided with the end of the wheat harvest where two loaves of bread would be offered at the Temple in Jerusalem. There is also the ceremony of the giving of the first and best fruits from the field (bikkurim) that also occurs at Shavuot.

And so we come to the word “ahava” which means “love” in Hebrew but the root word “hav” means “to give”.

Hannah’s graduation ceremony is much more than the culmination of many years of study and schooling. That her ceremony would be originally scheduled during Shavuot and is now at the eve of it suggests that whilst she is receiving her diploma and ready to embark on her future…we’re also giving Hannah as a great gift to the world and eternally thankful that she has touched all of our lives and will continue to do so as she turns to the next chapter in her life.

That is “ahava” to me and even though I will not be at her graduation ceremony tonight, it is my hope that all who have had even a small part in her journey will feel the “ahava” that I have these past couple of days and shower the “ahava” upon her on her special day.