Rabbi Harold Kushner, the well known author of “When Bad Things Happen To Good People”died April 27 at the age of 88. In one of his books, “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough” he tells a great story about the value of friends.

“I was sitting on a beach one summer day, watching two children, a girl and a boy, playing in the sand. They were hard at work building an elaborate sand castle by the water’s edge, with gates and towers and moats and internal passages. Just when they had nearly finished their project, a big wave came along and knocked it down, reducing it to a heap of wet sand. I expected the children to burst into tears, devastated by what had happened to all their hard work. But they surprised me. Instead, they ran up the shore away from the water, laughing and holding hands and sat down to build another castle.

I realized that they has taught me an important lesson. All the things in our lives, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy creating, are built on sand. Sooner or later, the waves will come along and kick down what we had worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has somebody’s hand to hold will be able to laugh.”

“May his memory be for a blessing”

-Harriet