We're currently in Santa Fe with our very dear friends Gene and Gail, celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Apples and honey. Wishes for a sweet new year to you all, whether you're Jewish or not.
On the way to Santa Fe, NM.
Yesterday (Sunday, September 16), we drove from Farmington to Bernalillo, where we dropped Nicole at the train station, on her way to Albuquerque, then home to California. After driving about three hours, we pulled into the train station, serendipitiously 10 minutes before the train to ABQ. After a mad scramble looking for the second set of car keys - yes, Nicole really did have them! - we gave Nicole a tzedakah dollar, said goodbye, and waved while the train pulled out of the station.
Giving a tzedakah dollar to a traveler is an old Jewish custom, which we observe in our family. We gave Nicole a dollar (yes, for those of you keeping track, we gave one to Peter, too, when he departed) to give to the charity of her choice when she reached her final destination. Tzedakah can be roughly translated to either charity or lovingkindness. Either way works. Carrying the tzedakah dollar to its ultimate destination makes the carrier a messenger of G-d, and bestows G-d's protection on the traveler.
Tzedakah and acts of kindness are the equivalent of all the mitzvot of the Torah.
~Jerusalem Talmud, Pe'ah 1:1
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