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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Julia Neuberger

Good morning.

It鈥檚 Friday, and the Jewish sabbath begins tonight. Normally a chance for a big family meal, with everyone telling everyone else about their week, and hugs and kisses all round, it鈥檚 very different during this pandemic. No hugs. No guests. Just the 2 of us for yet another meal. We still try to make it special. We light the sabbath candles with our children and grandchildren on Zoom.

Yet the hardest thing for so many of us is not being able to see and touch our loved ones. Older people in care homes. People with learning disabilities in residential care. People with dementia who cannot understand why it鈥檚 just a face at a window. And those who are very old who fell life slipping away in isolation rather than with family and friends. And yet we are so fortunate. We have Zoom and Teams. We have FaceTime and WhatsApp.

We can talk to friends in Australia as easily as to the children down the road we鈥檙e not allowed to visit. And we can keep in touch with people in ways our parents and grandparents couldn鈥檛 have dreamed of. So teach us, God, to value the relationships we have and the ways we have to maintain them. And remind us that those relationships matter far more than worldly goods. For they nourish us and our souls.

The rabbis taught us: 鈥淕et yourself a teacher, acquire a friend, and judge every person on the side of merit.鈥� So let鈥檚 not bear grudges, and complain about family and friends whilst we鈥檙e missing them in lockdown, but instead really look forward to the time we can see friends and family again, and open our arms to them in joy.