Gevurah ShebiTiferes -- Discipline in empathy
Joke: Before sending her son off for his first day at school, Rachel Cohen hugged him and said:" Good luck, my bubbeleh. Be good, bubbeleh, and work hard.
"And remember, bubbeleh, at lunch time eat all of your food and play nicely with the other children. Oh, bubbueleh, I'm so proud!"
That afternoon, when little Cohen returned home, his mother cried:
"Bubbeleh, my bubbeleh, give your mother a hug! So, tell me, what did you learn at school today?"
"Well," said the boy, "to start with, I learned that my name is Sammie."
Sometimes, out of care and concern we do not realize that we are invading into the other person's private domain.
We have to be careful not to be overbearing in our empathy; it is not about you, it is about the other person.
Do you, in trying to be empathetic, cross borders?
Do you know how to respect the space and the otherness of the person you are showing empathy to?
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