One Must Always Greet Another Person

It was said of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai that no person ever greeted him first.

Berachot 17a

I am beginning to wonder if all of Rabbi Telushkin’s lessons will teach the same basic idea in 365 varieties - Love your neighbor as yourself.  Again and again I am reminded of how simple and effective this can be - every time I work the counter at Starbucks.

It takes absolutely no effort to make eye contact with each customer, to look them in the eye and really listen to their order.  Over time, these conversations become a little more.  Even the greetings become ‘a little more.’  It’s empowering, the realization that something so simple as a greeting can really make a difference in another person’s day.  Telushkin concludes this one with a story about a rebbe who greeted everyone in his village, including the Christian farmer.  After years in concentration camps, he standing in line, again, he walked up to a table and found himself greeting that same farmer, who now wore an SS uniform.  The farmer greeted him as well, put him in the ‘life’ line, and the rabbi survived the war, “This is the power of a good morning greeting.”