Like many of you, I’ve been watching the fires that seem to be consuming Los Angeles from multiple directions - the Pacific Palisades in the west and Pasadena in the east – with unfolding horror. As a born Angelino, with friends and family still in LA, seeing the sites and neighborhoods of my youth burn, and hearing first-hand the overwhelming, ever-present effects the fires are having on everyone feels disheartening. What can I do, far away, in frigid Brooklyn, to help?
But just as a fire does not start in isolation - its power to consume and destroy requires the complex interplay of water, wind, and draught that extend far beyond the borders of the conflagration itself– our actions can help as well.
Reach out to people in the area to check in and see how they're doing. Consider contributing to the relief work, such as that of Chabad of the Pacific Palisades and Chabad of Pasadena. Say a prayer for everyone in the path of destruction and the brave first responders fighting to extinguish the fires.
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These moments of destruction also give us a chance to reflect. The Baal Shem Tov once said, “Everything one sees or hears is to be taken as a lesson in how to better serve the Creator.” I was struck by the words of my colleague, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, reflecting on the fires.
There are times in life when you are rudely reminded
that as secure as you may have felt
you are but another small creature amidst great forces much larger than any of us
that could sweep you away in a moment
and send all the material things you have acquired in life up in smoke.
And then you realize
that all you really have
is the kindness you have shown to others
the love you have received and the love you have given
the light and wisdom you have shared
and the acts of the spirit, of beauty, and of wonder that you have brought to the world.
As for the rest, it is all ashes.
In truth, it was all ashes from the beginning.
