As you can see the table-cards for Friday Night in the Sukkah 5783/2022 are printed on two separate sheets of paper, instead of the double-sided table-cards they are supposed to be. That’s because we were rushing to get them ready before Shabbos, only to discover that the new HP LaserJet Pro printer we bought does not have Auto-Duplex Printing (as Staples website said it does) only manual duplex, which is a pain, and now we’re trying to figure out how to return this printer, so we can get one that duplexes easily. Hopefully that works out smoothly.
Duplexing (printing on both sides of the same paper) is not only a printer/copier convenience, but also a relevant message in life when it comes to relationships and in building community:
Of course there will often be two different sides. There are often two sides on issues – that’s normal and expected. But goal in a healthy relationship and in a thriving community is for the two sides to be on the same page. When a printer or person can’t duplex, it means that the two opinions, two sides, can’t see or co-exist with the other, they have no mutual connection, they don’t share anything in common. They are two separate sheets of paper.
This reminds me of the “Rusty Coin” Alter Rebbe story we’ve shared in the past. See link for the story. And there are many other stories like it that we’ve shared over the years.
May we appreciate and value everyone’s communal contribution, regardless of differences, and still be able to have a same-page sense, even when we’re on two different sides of the page.