Remarkable Folks — Each in Their Own Way

One of the most important messages that we can give our kids and ourselves, beginning each morning with Modeh Ani, is that Hashem’s world is a good place — or, at least, filled with the potential for immense good. And the clearest manifestation of that goodness is that to be found in our fellow human beings.

While that human goodness is all around us, if we just sensitize ourselves to look for it, for many of us it is easier to recognize while traveling, when our antennae are sharper with respect to the new people we meet. That was certainly true for me on my recent trip to the States. During the first week of my trip, I met a series of remarkable people — each remarkable in a different way.

Seated next to me on the first leg of my journey, from Tel Aviv to Vienna, was a very pleasant religious woman, from a moshav near Tzefas, named Laya Saul Jackson.

I inquired as to the purpose of her trip, and she told me that she was raising money for the creation of an interactive children’s museum in the Galilee. She explained that about six years ago, on Leil Yom Kippur, she experienced a powerful vision that Hashem wanted her to create such a place. And she has been at work on it ever since. In that time, she has assembled a distinguished board, hired a CEO with lots of experience in the nonprofit education sector, and entered into negotiations with various municipalities and local councils in the North about funding and location.