What Emergency Surgery Taught Me About Love

Several days ago, I found myself in incredible pain. Very severe stomach pain. I thought it would go away. It wasn't going away. I ended up driving to the emergency room. They saw me. They ran tests. Turns out I had an inflamed appendix and they were going to need to perform an emergency appendecttomy. There's a reason why I'm telling you this story. Just hold on. It was very painful. And I remember thinking at the time, God, why are you doing this to me? I'm trying to be productive. I'm trying to get stuff done. And like, who has time for this? I I was I was frustrated to be honest. I was very frustrated. Uh besides for being in a lot of pain. Performed the surgery. Thank God I'm recovering. Well, I wake up in the morning. I'm laying in bed. And I open up Hayomy, the daily calendar that the Reba had authored for daily insight. And that morning's insight, this was Wednesday morning, says that the Bashto says every single thing that we hear or see in life somehow is a lesson in our service to God. Here I am in a hospital bed. I was frustrated and I'm thankful too that the surgery went well and everything's fine and the pain is gone other than the recovery. But then the re my question was answered. Why am I here? I have to figure out why I'm here. There was a good reason. I don't know what it is but it's there. And it hit me because I felt like the reason was so much connected to this week's para. This week's para paraim tells us that we have a mitzvah of love your fellow like yourself and the explains how could you love somebody else. It's like I I get how I could love myself but how could I love somebody else like myself? So the Arizal explains that we're all like one body and although the body may look like it comes in parts, it's really all interconnected. And that's why what happens to one part of the body can affect the other part of the body because it's really all one. It's a bunch of different parts contributing to making one large hole. If we were to hate somebody, we'd be amputating a part of ourselves because we're all one body, different parts of one body. That's why the Talmade Shami gives the analogy of somebody who doing construction and he accidentally bangs a nail into the other hand. The other hand isn't taking revenge because it's all one. And that got me thinking, this is exactly what's happening in this hospital. There's so much staff here taking such good care of me. There are the nurses, there's the CNAs, there's the doctors, there's the janitorial staff, there's the administration, there is the food service, there's the surgeons, there there was so much just trying to help heal one person. And everybody's sticking to their own unique job. And it's and every single job is necessary. You know, maybe the surgeon is more prestigious or paid more than the janitorial staff or the CNA or the nurse, but they're all necessary. Every single thing they're doing is contributing toward my health. And they all worked together so seamlessly. And I think the reason was because they didn't see themselves as unique parts exclusively. They saw themselves as unique parts contributing toward one whole, contributing toward healing. And because they saw each other as necessary, they can work together seamlessly to bring healing to that one individual. And that's kind of what we're doing here on this world. Explains that we've been sent to this fragmented, broken world, this exile where there's no temple and there's there's like this spiritual illness, this deficiency in connection to God. And our job is to bring healing. Our job is to heal the world. Our job is to bring the world to its true potential, to God's true vision for humanity, to this messianic state where God becomes relevant, where people are valued for who they truly are. And when we see how each and every single one of us participates or can potentially participate in that, that's incredibly healing. The moment we start viewing people as necessary is the moment we can really appreciate them for their true value, their ability to contribute toward a world that's healing, toward a world that becomes a better place. Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and the person you have the most difficult time getting along with, somehow you were able to see that person as necessary. And maybe you don't even know why or how or what their potential is yet, but you just knew they were necessary because God put them here. and they're here to bring healing to the world just like you are. You're necessary. They're necessary. You're both contributing toward one whole. How would you see them differently? What would be different? How would you treat them differently? What would be different about you now that you see them in that way? This is the message that I was blessed to learn from having an emergency appendecttomy in the hospital. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Have a great job as friends.