5 ways to be a Shamash in 2018

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We’ve been back in Austin for 3 years.

It’s been 3 years (!) since the Child & I chatted about making new friends and what do to when you can’t find a nice person.

It’s flown.

It’s been a roller coaster.

It reminds me of what I’ve written before with regards to fully living in our bodies versus going through the motions of life encased in a skin-sack.

(bear with me. this will make sense in a moment.)

Using the above sentiment as lens, I can see I’ve been back in Austin for a while, yet not lived in Austin since 2012.

I’ve ambled through the ATX. I’ve made new friends. I’ve rekindled old relationships. I’ve done practically nothing to weave myself back into the community.

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fundraising 5k…doesn’t really count.

I sensed these feelings emerging as we unpacked in the condo (for me ‘fully living somewhere’ means participating in creating community), but struggled to translate the sentiment into words until I stumbled upon Rabbi Wolpe’s tweet.

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Be a Shamash (the ‘helper’ candle whose sole purpose is to ignite others) he exhorted via social media. Use your spark to set other lives on fire.

These 140 characters captured precisely what I’ve not been doing offline in Austin.

I’ve felt pretty good about efforts like our 31 acts of kindness.

I’ve felt pretty great about opportunities seized to help others in my virtual world.

I’ve not served as Shamash here in the same fashion I sought out/seized opportunities during my time in Oakland.

Your light burns brighter the more you spark flame in others.

Thanks to my discovered-at-3am TwitterRabbi I realized I’d previously prioritized discovering ways to use my flame (no matter how small) and ignite someone’s unlit wick.

(to beat a metaphor to death, I realize.)

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this man was often my Oakland Shamash.

Since reading Wolpe’s tweet I’ve challenged myself to brainstorm broad acts or attitudes (unlike the specific actions of our December) which would assist me in bringing light wherever I go.

Any gesture of kindness which would serve to banish darkness or loneliness around me.

30 days later I’ve committed to 5:

I won’t end this post by saying:

“And now I plan to spend the next 365 days Being A Shamash in Austin whenever possible.”

For me it feels much bigger than that.

I want to make this shift.

I want to share this new life-approach with my daughter.

I want us both to remain permanently altered and consistently bringing the light.

And you?

  • How might you be a Shamash in your community?
  • What could you do to share your light with others?

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Comments

  1. To us living somewhere definitely means participating in the community and being involved, which does not always come naturally for me. But through the kids and their school and activities I always find is the best way to “reach out” with little effort and BIG impact. I love our little community and we come together and light each other’s fires as often as possible 🙂 Love that tweet.

  2. I know it’s nothing new yet lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact if we just help one person in our community we can slowly impact and change the whole thing

  3. I think you live this already. I love the reminder to PROVIDE help and not just offer it. And trying to be KIND in all interactions with others.

  4. Shamash (man I love those Yiddish words!) is so meaningful in the midst of all the fluff around the holidays. I really don’t like the holidays because it’s all so fake. Why can’t we live these principles all year round?

  5. One of the interesting things about the Shamash is that the Holiday is not ABOUT the Shamash. The light is shining elsewhere. The Shamash is a helper, not a beacon. It’s service, and not leadership. I think this is a concept that’s very important to social justice these days, when everyone has an idea of how things “should” be done. Instead the Shamash enables the other to shine, enables the message of each of the other candles.

  10. What a great analogy. The Shamash does get center stage for it’s efforts. In picking up a few boxes of Channukah candles I bought one box of all white candles. Who knew there was such a thing? Certainly multicolored candles are the rest of your analogy of being the Shamash lighting/helping all different people/problems/situations.

  13. I love this idea Carla – being a light to others is such a wonderful gift. So many people are busy focusing on their own little candle, they forget how simple it is to lean over and light someone else’s.

  14. Carla, I have read your posts many times, but the title of this one caught my eye. Rabbi Wolpe was the head counselor at Camp Ramah when I was going into 6th grade. He was in college and already made an impression on me. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You are a shamash to your readers online already — you are a help and you guide many readers on their paths to self-discovery.
    Happy Chanukah!!!

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