by Roy Exum
posted September 3, 2008
 Roy Exum |
Among the sites I visit are at least eight or ten newspapers (I particularly love the Los Angeles Times and the Dallas Morning News) and I try to learn as much as I can by reading all sorts of viewpoints and interviews and profiles. I do it for me. I want to know about all kinds of stuff.
The other morning I was immersed in the Washington Post when I saw where that newspaper is printing various sermons made by clergy in the Beltway area. I was drawn to one called “Finding Sweetness in Bitterness” by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Sholom – the National Synagogue - and, as I read it, I began to cry.
I don’t know hardly anything about the Jewish faith, other than my great admiration for those chose to embrace it, and while I try to be a Christian and follow Jesus Christ, I desperately seek answers to why there are six different kinds of Presbyterian churches in the phone book, why the whole Catholic church has been so horribly castigated by acts of only a few nauseating pedophile-priests and why all of God’s children seem to be constantly squabbling, this among all sorts of other religious questions that buzz about in my brain.
So in the rabbi’s sermon I learn that there is a fabulous Jewish phrase that goes, “gam zu letovah.” It means, quite simply, “also this is for good.” It is used when something like Hurricane Gustav wrecks havoc, or when the most wonderful soul in a Methodist church dies, or when a ghetto child becomes terribly ill.
Oh, the rabbi is quick to warn it isn’t to be used lightly, or that in the midst of a crisis it can often be misconstrued as “obnoxious and insensitive.” The trick, he explained, is to show it in your actions rather than your words.
He illustrated his sermon with the following story:
“Once (there was) a great man named Nachum Ish Gamzu. The Talmud tells us that whenever something happened to him that appeared to be bad, he would always say, "Gam zu letovah."
“Nachum Ish Gamzu had as a student the great Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud tells the following story:
“Once Rabbi Akiva was traveling on a journey, and he came to a city. He requested lodging, and they turned him down. He said, "Kol deavid rachmanah letav," which means "whatever God does is for the best." So Rabbi Akiva went to sleep in the field.
“He had with him a rooster, a donkey and a candle. The wind came and blew out the candle. He said, "Kol deavid rachmanah letav." A cat came and ate the rooster. He said, "Kol deavid rachmanah letav." A lion came and ate the donkey, and he said, "Kol deavid rachmanah letav."
“That night, an army came and captured the city. Rabbi Akiva realized that had his light not blown out, had his rooster and donkey not have been killed, then he, too, would probably have been captured. He exclaimed, "Kol mah sheoseh Hakadosh Barukh Hu hakol letovah!" - whatever God does, He does for good.”
Well, a few days before I read the Rabbi’s sermon I had gotten my fill of Hewlett-Packard’s “1-800” number and I wrote an “open letter” of sorts to the king of the company in Palo Alto. Not only did I mail the letter as well as dash it across the Internet, I FedEx’ed him my laptop, what they call the docking station for it, the power cords, the mouse and the keyboard and all else.
In my rather pointed but polite letter, I told him of the frustrations I was having. The very next day a wonderful lady who remembered me from 20 years before, back when she was working for Digital and calling on the newspaper, flashed me an e-mail and said, “Let me help.” She now works high up the ladder for H-P and she was eager to make things right.
The day after that the company’s No. 1 complaint guy, who lives in Denver, got in touch with me and by the time he was finished I’d made my newest friend. I knew about his daughter who was in her freshman year at Kansas. I knew he had just had neck surgery and was having to type with six fingers. I mean, this is the Sandy Koufax of handling complaints. He’s also a fabulous human being.
I don’t care how many advanced courses he’s taken in handling jerks. He played me like a Stradivarius violin, but what you have to know is that I am firmly and solidly convinced that although they may be the biggest computer company in the world, a bunch of H-P people still care about me. I am completely swept away for the intense kindness I have been shown.
So the whole point I am trying to make is this - no matter what happens in the upcoming Presidential election or in a Saturday afternoon football game or on the stock pages or even at a given stop light, “gam zu letovah.”
If I can be assured that “also this is for good,” I can make it through anything, brother, and I am talking about anything.
royexum@aol.com
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