One-another-ness

In his refreshing commentary on the 23rd Psalm (p. 150), Rabbi Harold Kushner relates this insightful result of an experiment by a psychology profesor at a major university. He was exploring "pain tolerance." So, he invited several dozen students to measure how long they could keep a bare foot in a bucket of ice water. One of the things he learned was that if there was someone else in the room, a person could keep his/her foot in the bucket nearly twice as long.

Kushner's conlcusion is that "the presence of another caring person doubles the amount of pain someone can endure. Guilt feels less deserved, pain is less painful, misfortune is less oppressive, when someone is there with you." Perhaps, the lesson is obvioous.

Kushner's claim-to-fame is usually associated with his previous book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Much of that book is brought forward in a refreshing way in this book, published in 2003. His caring insights are a potiential blessing to both care-giver and care-receiver.

Beyond that, for Bible students, it is delightful to get a glance of the Shepherd's Psalm from a Jewish perspective. But, be careful, he might just challenge some your perceptions re God's involvement in our world!