“The Baptists are praying for you,” my Jewish mother said to me with enthusiasm the day before the cancer surgery that saved my life.
Mom was still living in Virginia at the time and felt helpless being so far away. A widow for many years, she lived alone in an apartment complex and had been gathering prayers for me from her neighbors. Most of them were not Jewish.
I was moved that she was taking solace and prayers from people of different religions.
Today, I am thinking about this, not only because it is my 27th anniversary as a cancer survivor, but because it speaks to me of solutions. What would happen if people on all sides of the world’s disharmony asked the same question that my mother did when she thought her daughter might be dying?
Could prayers from people of a different religion, people who prayed in a different language, even people whose politics she disagreed with, could their prayers make a difference? Suppose just knowing people wanted to help, human to human, actually made a difference, not just in the outcome, but in the way we see the world, the way it could stretch humanity beyond just taking care of our own.
A good example of this has been playing out locally since the Pasadena Jewish Temple was destroyed in the Altadena fires. Weekly services have been held at The First United Methodist Church in Pasadena, and both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur High Holiday services are at Beckman Auditorium at Caltech. Community outreach and cooperation have been a rewarding reminder of what is possible when society operates on a human-to-human basis.
I have often wondered if having my surgery on the Jewish High Holidays had a specific meaning.
“Should you even be working on Rosh Hashanah?” I asked my surgeon, a Jewish doctor, at USC Norris Cancer Center.
“Saving a life trumps everything,” he replied.
And then he did his job. And my mother prayed and the Baptists prayed and friends of friends, who didn’t even know me, prayed. And those who didn’t believe in prayer sent me positive energy and it all came together and I recovered. Was it the prayers that made the difference?
Religion aside, I think all the well-wishes and love offered have made the world a better place, a more hopeful place.
Even if I hadn’t made it, I may have left behind this pool of people being their best selves on my behalf, and I thank you all.
Email [email protected]. Follow her on Patriciabunin.com
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