Wanted to give a shout out appreciation to the UAlbany Welcome Staff who made this thoughtfully inclusive sign with the words for Welcome in many languages (& as I am Jewish) including Hebrew.
I know some will be upset or chuckle about the (mistaken) L-R orientation but the inclusive welcoming sentiment comes through loud and clear regardless.
And there’s a lesson in everything! The Baal Shem Tov taught to learn from everything, this mistaken text included.
So what’s the life message/takeaway?
Perhaps this can be a message about good communication: increasing our empathy & understanding of others. It’s not only about the content or the characters, but also to be able recognize the other person’s starting point, their default cursor – which may be very different from our own.
Knowing another person’s axioms, their starting point, their default mindset, the world they are coming from, the unsaid context, can give us a better read on the words they do tell us.
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And one more message. This does also teach us about the value and importance of shared community. In an ever-changing world, in times that have have so much rootlessness, it really helps to have a Shabbat anchor of community and belonging as we navigate the bigger campus world out there.
Spending Shabbat with those who have this shared roots, who have that same default cursor, even if we may have different letters and content, can make a huge difference! Be sure to make Shabbat an anchor of your college life!