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Did you know that the airline safety announcements were taken
from this week's Parsha, Acharei Mot? When the Torah says that the
Kohen Gadol (high priest) worked for forgiveness of himself, his
family and of the nation as a whole (16:17), one should wonder why
he couldn't just work on forgiveness for everyone, which would
clearly also include himself and his family.
The answer is that before we can think about fixing the world, we
need to fix ourselves and our immediate surroundings. As the
airlines say, "secure your mask before assisting others"! What's
even more interesting in the wording is that the word
"forgiveness" is only mentioned once, and yet it affects himself,
his family and the entire nation. It seems that a single positive
action can have the affect of improving ourselves, our families
AND the nation! It's clear from this that finding ways to improve
ourselves has a cumulative affect far greater than the
improvements themselves, an important concept which should
motivate us to find us a mask to secure!