Dr. Mishner’s “Memory And Meaning”

I remember so well March 13, two thousand twenty

Life was good and we had plenty

Then along came THE virus

To sit down beside us

Mentioning Tiger or Babe, you need only one name,

Similarly with THE virus, you need not mention it’s the same

I thought that this cruel joke would last a week or two

But this nasty bug was more formidable than I knew

My vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds

Words like COVID, hand sanitizer and ventilators were making the rounds

Let us not forgot the most important tasks

Social distancing and wearing masks

Days of isolation led to weeks to months and now a year

I could look into people’s eyes and see their fear

Every night on the news I would see the number of deaths rise,

Please G-d let’s stop this pandemic as tears poured down from my eyes

With the hours in my job drastically cut and nowhere to go

My wife and I took to streaming our favorite show

Children, granddaughters and grandsons we could no longer see up close

That is what we missed the most

The real winner during this time is that four letter word Zoom

I can stay in my house and visit anyone anywhere in their room

To me this technology is second place

I much prefer to see everyone face to face.

Besides my family, I had my second family, Beth El

As President, so much was asked of me with little to tell

They want to know if they can come in the building to see their friends and pray

Do I have to be the bad guy and say not today?

Believe it or not it has been a year, oy, what a year

But the good news is that the vaccine is here

Everyone will soon be going back to stores

And yes we will be reopening our doors

Being President of this congregation is something I will always treasure

Seeing how everyone has cared for one another during this pandemic is my greatest pleasure

Wishing that everyone remains healthy and well

As I always like to say, next year in Beth El.

While we can do nothing about this past year, we can look forward to a better tomorrow

We can be optimistic about our future and bury our sorrow.

I wake up each morning and really value living and life

And as always I never forget to say I love you to my children, grandchildren and wife.

Wishing everyone a healthy rest of this year and beyond. Thank you for everything you have done for our great congregation.

Respectfully,

Ed Mishner, MD

President, Beth El Congregation of Baltimore