Our Rabbis have taught us,  “You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your God: I am Adonai” (Vayikra 19:32).  One of the rationales behind this mitzvah is that the essence of humans in this world is to acquire more and more wisdom in order to know our Creator. Therefore it is fitting to honor one who has attained wisdom, so that others will be encouraged to do the same.

Today, a group of almost 30 women from Jewish Federation went to the Abramson Center to do our mitzvah.  The Abramson Center is funded in part from the dollars we raise at the Jewish Federation.  It was a lovely home – clean, orderly and the residents were busy.  They had beautiful facilities and my friends and I were planning our future stay.  Since it’s almost Pesach, we spent our morning decorating Matzah covers for their community seder.  Gloria, Cathy and I had a lot of laughs getting to know Ruth and Miriam.  We especially chuckled when Ruth (who was born in Germany in 1923) looked closely at Gloria and said, “Are you Jewish?  You look Chinese!”  Miriam responded, “I’d rather be Chinese and Jewish than German and Jewish!”  It was a warm and happy visit!