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The video above is Rabbi David Wolpe’s acceptance of a Tower Cancer Research Foundation award at a dinner held on May 18 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, honoring him and his wife Eliana, cancer survivors both. Also honored were Tower doctors Dr. Peter Rosen and Dr. Barry Rosenbloom). The video is 3:54 long, but you have to watch it all to appreciate the final 10 seconds.
Rabbi Wolpe’s lymphoma was his second confrontation with a life-threatening illness. In 2004, he underwent brain surgery. His 2004 article “Lessons from Life’s Second Chance,” written thereafter, is worth re-reading again:
We do not excise the range of human emotion because we have faced death. Still, for a moment, when the possibility whispered, it put an impress on my soul.
It taught me anew how powerful is human kindness. I realized, for those blessed enough to live through such an experience, that there are models: Almost every major character in the Bible builds his or her life on a second chance. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Leah, Moses, Ruth, and so many more stand in the circle of second chances.
We may not know what it means, but when God grants a second chance, we are not permitted to ignore the mystery. Perhaps the mystery itself is the meaning. . . .
At times, I think the only message is to appreciate anew my favorite line in all of Jewish prayer. It is the final line of the service, from "Adon Olam," and all too often ignored amidst folding tallises and people rushing to kiddush: "In Your hand I entrust my soul, both asleep and awake. And if my spirit should pass away, God is with me. I will not be afraid."