my shabbos friend

there's a lady in my shul who is my special shabbos friend. well its not that we're not friends otherwise its just that i rarely see her outside of shul. but each shabbos i look forward to going to shul and sitting in my usual spot right behind her. and then i wait for her to slowly turn around with a twinkle in her eye and a wise smirk on her face - yes wise is a good word for her. i dont think of many people as wise - but she most definately is just that. she's the kind of person who says things that you want to drink up and save forever because each little comment she says seems to open up a treasury of wisdom. and i love to listen to her and drink up her words.

this Shabbos, like every Shabbos, i came in a bit late - not too late but then again not too early. and i took my place right behind her and then - just a few minutes later than I expected - just enough time to be unexpected - she turned around and asked me a question. of course my answer never matters to these questions - its really all about the question - therein lies the wisdom. but i often answer just to get a conversation going - and to make sure she'll continue sharing. she asked: "is it easier to be forgiven by Hashem or by people?" it was brilliant -well then again she could ask me to pass the crackers at a kiddush and i would think it was brilliant - but this one i didnt consider too long - sometimes i do either because i need to or just to make me seem thoughtful - but i answered her - we both agreed Hashem. and we discussed why and how and how awful it is to ask for forgiveness from some who doesnt know you ever wronged them - how horrible it is to tell them, to hurt them just to ask for forgiveness. and we talked about the things i've done that haunt me that i'll never forget that i hope and pray the others involved have forgotten - those things that make my stomach hurt just thinking about them.
and then she asked about the horrible tragedy our community is experiencing - but she saw my eyes well up and she stopped her questions. and then she told me something that made her upset - about a person who didnt care enough to say hello to her son - giddi. nice people shouldnt have to deal with that. then she told me something really neat:

there's a word in Tehillim that is only written once - the word is matmonim מטמונים - if you break up the word you get: מ"ט-מונים-counting 49 -0bvoiously referring to counting the omer. she told me that many people include this in written correspondence during the sefirah e.g. today would be: י"ט במטמונים. so what's so k0ol about that? in Hebrew מטמונים means hidden treasures- so sefirah is our time to unearth those hidden treasures - work out and bring each level of each of our middos to the surface - how apropos! yes she most definately is a hidden treasure.