Vampire Weekend's Surprising Jewish Stories
6 min read
Each of these four mothers inspire us in a different way.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day, we celebrate love that endures over time. Here are four mothers who inspire us, each one in a unique manner.
Loren Long is a talented bestselling children’s illustrator, including books authored by celebrities and President Barack Obama. He’s also colorblind. He can’t see the difference between brown and green, blue and purple. Certain hues elude him. Yet, he has created beautiful colorful drawings that have delighted children across the world.
Who gave Loren his grit?
At 14, Loren’s mother took him to an optometrist. Loren was told that he’s colorblind. Not a big deal, the doctor said. Unless you want to be an artist.
Loren’s life quest was to be an artist.
Loren described the moment that was his impetus to greatness. As he cried in the car on the way home from the doctor, his mother gripped his knee and told him, “Loren, your art is beautiful. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t be an artist.”
What would’ve happened if his mother would not have pushed predictions and impossibilities aside? He would have given up. The world would never have seen the colors that ran vivid in his head.
There are mothers across the world who are told that their child will never do or be something. “Put away your dreams,” they are told. “This son or daughter of yours will live a life of limitations. They’ll never amount to much.” And these mothers stand strong. They’re their child’s greatest cheerleader. Where others see boulders, they see stepping stones.
Greatness is a step away. Perhaps it is a big step, maybe even a leap. But they will not lie down in a bed of limitations. They peel away layers until they discover their child’s hidden potential.
What’s it like to spend nights on a hospital chair, the wood digging into your back,
wondering if your child’s vein will hold off from collapsing the tenth day of IV? How do you grasp onto hope, keep faith alive, and put a smile on your face, when your heart is breaking?
My friend Rachel has spent too many nights with her little girl battling illness. Days turn into dusks. Months turn into seasons. And yet I have never met a woman whose smile lights up a room like Rachel. She has never turned bitter. She has brought joy into a dark world.
Vivacious. Loving. Energetic. It seems impossible. But here is a mother’s boundless love taking shape. If I am ok then you, my child, will be ok.
How many mothers could easily fall apart and yet, for their children’s sake, they put one foot in front of the other and keep walking? The flickering spark of courage extinguishes the hopelessness that can easily snuff out their daily joy. With great audacity they smile and stare fear in the eye. They hug. They give. They listen. They are weary but fight the fatigue of illness, desperation, disappointment, and dread. These mothers are the heroines who empower the world.
Lucy Dee is the mother who died of critical injuries she sustained in a shooting by a Palestinian terrorist who first killed her daughters, Maia and Rena. Lucy’s oldest surviving daughter Keren, 17, told mourners that “to lose a mother is like losing a life”.
Eight years ago Lucy followed her dream. She gave up a bustling life in England and moved to Israel together with her husband and children. Her passion to live in Israel was a driving force in her life. Lucy would say that she could not imagine living anywhere else.
Her home was filled with warmth and love. She was a beloved educator who taught her children the need to make a difference in this world. One of her favorite questions she asked at her Shabbat table was, “What did you do for someone today?”
The words of Lucy’s son, spoken as she was laid to rest, reflect the life legacy that Lucy left behind:
“Mommy, you were the strongest person I’ve known, mentally and spiritually. I will never find someone so generous, beautiful and kind. We always felt safe and happy in our home because of you. We will try to be strong and kind like you.”
She lived with strength and courage and transmitted her fortitude and compassion for every person to her children.
Mothers living with a looming final goodbye are faced with unsaid promises, dreams of wedding canopies left behind. Each moment that ticks by is another crack in the heart. Some mothers leave tragically. Others are aware that sadly, their days must count as years.
But a mother’s legacy lived each day remains. No one can ever take it away. A path has been forged. A mother’s love is forever.
Rebeccah, mother of twins Jacob and Esau, faced a challenge that many mothers encounter. What happens when my child disappoints me? What do I do with my disapproval, my displeasure and distress?
Seeing her two children traveling such diverse paths tore Rebecca’s heart into two. Jacob, her pure son, lived with a gentle spirit. Esau, her son the hunter, was brash and bloodthirsty.
Rachel teaches us that it is possible to love even if you do not like.
You may not like your child’s actions. You may feel frustrated and disturbed. You wonder to yourself what will be with this child? How did this happen? I tried so hard!
But as Jacob runs for his life from his brother, Rebecca is called in the Torah “mother of Jacob and Esau”. Bottom line, Rebecca sees herself as the mother of both her boys. She carried them within her womb, gave life to them and yes, she loved them despite the disparities and deficiencies.
Mothers discover eternal love. It is a force unlike any other, fierce and enduring, a love that emits from the depth of the soul and lingers long past the last breath of life.
To mothers all over the world, this is a tribute to you.
