We Plan, God Laughs by Rabbi Sherre Hirsch--a FirstLook

As a teen, I remember a cool summer evening when a neighbor family was involved in a car accident while traveling home from a religious service. Another car’s driver had not bothered to stop at a 4-way intersection—instead continuing through at a high speed. Hitting my neighbor’s car, the 40 something parents were instantly killed. Their three older children had been sitting in the backseat and miraculously survived. But life was never the same for those kids.

There’s an old Yiddish proverb, “We plan, God laughs.” As children we dream of what we’ll be one day, as teens of where we’ll go and what we’ll see. As young adults our eyes are set on dollars—how we’ll make the money and whom we’ll marry. And so on…We plan, but when our plans fall short or an unexpected change occurs, what should we do? How do we carry on?

Author Sherre Hirsch understands life; in fact, she’s known as the Relationship Rabbi. Her upcoming first book, We Plan, God Laughs is a plan of 10 steps which helps the reader return to the path of life when he or she is floundering. Through examples of the lives of others and herself, Rabbi Hirsch demonstrates how we can change to make our lives better and give them meaning.

We are all looking for meaning. When people close to us, like my neighbors, die, we ask ourselves, “What is the purpose of life?” There is a divine spark in all of us, Hirsch writes. Finding what awakens your soul will help rewrite the old plan and form a new one. Rabbi Hirsch explains, “Each one of us has a calling, a divine purpose.” We must each find what it is that we love to do, become our best at it, creating and living life with it. Ultimately, we benefit others when we find happiness through claiming our divine spark. Rabbi Hirsch asks us to engage up, or rather keep learning and challenging ourselves and not just sit on the sidelines of life.

Though no one sat with my neighbors as they died, Rabbi Hirsch in her religious profession, has held the hands of many who were passing on. She writes, “When I die, I will meet God at the pearly gates. There God will ask me, ‘Were you the best Sherre Hirsch you could be?’ God will not ask me, ‘Did all your dreams come true? Did you make a lot of money? Did you become famous?’ God will not ask me why I was not Moses, Mother Teresa, or my mom. God will want to know if I was me—divine, authentic, extraordinary, regular me. I hope I will be able to say yes. Then God and I will laugh together.”

BackStory--Rabbi Sherre Hirsch became the first female rabbi at Sinai Temple, the largest Conservative synagogue in the United States.  Serving there, she was instrumental in doubling its family membership.  Today Sherre Hirsch is known as the Relationship Rabbi, acting as the spiritual life consultant at Canyon Ranch, and has been a two-year regular on Naomi Judd's New Morning show, The Today Show, and The Tyra Banks Show.  She is also a wife and mother to three young children.

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