There was once a family, not long ago, that had the most wonderful parents and seven beautiful children. Life for both the children and the parents was that of a dream family.

Suddenly, one Shabbos afternoon, without any warning, tragedy struck and the mother collapsed. Hatzalah was quickly called and despite their many desperate attempts to resuscitate her, they were forced to surrender and pronounce her dead.

The funeral was the most heartbreaking one. Simply watching the crying young orphans was enough to melt the hardest of hearts. Somehow, life went on and slowly but surely the family got back to a semi-normal state. The oldest daughter, worked tirelessly to try to do all her mother’s chores while taking on her new role of being a “mother” and a sister at the same time.

It happened one day that the twelve-year-old sister wanted to buy her older sister a gift for all her efforts. She emptied out all her money that she gathered over the years and went to a jewelry store with $40. She innocently asked the jeweler for a ring for her sister. She mentioned that she only has $40 and hoped it would be enough. The jeweler realized something was amiss and asked her why she wanted to buy this gift.

After hearing the story and holding back his tears, he handed the orphan an expensive and beautiful ring. She ran out the door and ran home to her sister. She was beaming with pride while handing her sister the most beautiful ring. She said she collected all her money and bought this ring as a gift for her.

The older sister accepted the gift and then proceeded to go to the jeweler and asked him how he was able to give away this ring for only $40. The Jeweler started crying and said that some people pay me in cash and some pay in inspiration. “Your sister paid $40 in cash and the rest in inspiration.”

My dear friends, fellow abuse victims, trauma victims, emotional illness sufferers. Every year we all come to Hashem on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Some people come with cash-mitzvos, tefillos and many hours of learning. They bring all that cash to Hashem and hope for a good year.

However, there are those like you and me, that don’t have that much cash, but we have inspiration.

We had every reason to give up and stop fighting. We had every reason to be angry at God. We had every reason and so many temptations to end our life. We fought and fought to simply get through the day. Every day was a new battle. Every Shabbos was hard to keep.

Yet here we are.
A year later.
Still frum.
Still alive.
Still functioning.

Tell me my dear friends, is that not inspiring? Is that not the most beautiful gift we can give Hashem? Is that not the most beautiful basket heaping with inspiration?

Hashem most definitely cherishes our very unique and special gift. It’s inspiration in its purest form. It may not be cash but it’s worth so much.

My dear friends, please know that you are loved and cherished by Hashem. He loves you unconditionally. Each and every one of you is giving Hashem this very beautiful basket and I personally can’t think of a better gift to Hashem. A basket full of pure and real inspiration.