[Avodah] [Aspaqlaria] Kayli

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

This evening's blog post. (Minus Hebrew and Aramaic.)

-micha

    There isn't much I can say about the life of Aliza Kayla bas Mikhah
    Shemuel. She was born the first day chol hamo'ed Sukkos. I don't think
    she wanted to... Kayli spent the first days of Sukkos getting herself
    as far from out of there as possible, and she came into the world feet
    first. Eleven weeks later, a couple of days after Chanukah she left.

    Two thoughts though.

    Kayli's brief life brought people together. We moved to Passaic
    shortly before her birth thinking that our enlarged family would
    need the extra space. People invited us for Shabbasos those first
    weeks to make the new people feel at home in the neighborhood. Then
    she was born, and we relieved weeks worth of food from neighbors who
    took care of us while my wife recovered. We were barely done with
    all the leftovers from those meals when the meals started arriving
    during shiv'ah!

    More directly, one thing struck me about Kayli's life. The last time
    I held her, I marveled at her newly acquired talent to smile back
    at me when I smiled at her. Social smiling develops somewhere around
    7 weeks give or take, but I was never the most observant parent.

    It is now 4 Teves, Kayli's 24th yahrzeit. I cannot ask people to
    remember her example and give tzedaqah like she did, learn like she
    did, be a generous friend like she was. But Kayli did teach me the
    preciousness of a simple smile.

    So please do me a favor and make someone smile today! Complement
    them, give an unexpected "thank you", tell a joke. Just do anything
    to bring people together, more happiness into the world, and a smile
    to someone's lips.

      When Rav Dimi came [to the Golan from Naharda'ah, Bavel],
      he said: The Congregation of Israel said before the Holy One,
      "Master of the universe, twinkle to me with Your `Eyes', which are
      sweeter than wine, and show me Your `Teeth' which are sweeter
      than milk." [The twinkling eye and the visible teeth being
      a description of a heartfelt smile.]
      
      This is a proof for Rabbi Yochanan. As Rabbi Yochanan said:
      Whitening a friend's teeth [in a smile] is greater than giving
      him milk to drink. As it says, "uleven shinayim meichalav - and
      teeth whitened with milk." (Bereishis 49:12) Do not read "uleven
      shinayim", rather "libun shinayim - the whites of teeth"
      ["meichalav" - more than milk].
					  - Qiddushin 111b

    And on the the verse, the Yalqut Shim'oni quotes Rabbi Yochanan as
    above, but he continues:

      This world is not like the world to come. In this world there is
      grief in harvesting and treading [the grain]. But in the world
      to come, each one goes out to the field and brings a cluster of
      grapes back by carriage or boat, puts it in the corner [and has
      enough from it like a banyan] that is large and its wood is enough
      to burn under the stew [pot]. "Vedam einav tishtesh chamer --
      The blood of the grapes you shall drink as foaming wine" (Devarim
      32:14) - you will not have any cluster of grapes that would not
      produce 60 garab [roughly 7 gallons] of wine, as it says "chamer --
      foaming". Do not read "chamer" but "chomer -- substance."

    May we all great each other with a twinkle in the eye and a smile
    on the lips, so that we may live to see the day the worlds unite,
    and there is bounty without effort in this world as well.