On Numinous Lungs – A Tribute To Karyn Schad

There is a story of a man who so loved the mitzvah of dwelling in a sukkah that he couldn’t bear to leave his fragile structure even in the frigid temps of winter. One year, he was looked upon with mercy from heaven and flown to a climate with ideal sukkah weather. It can’t be an accident that the love-filled soul of Karyn Schad was lifted beyond this world to a warmer climate, just as Sukkot 5787 set in. Indeed I remember her telling me with her usual serene acceptance of untoward events, that one year she had a sukkah built on a patio only to be carried off by a powerful wind – as she herself was at the entrance to this festival of both fragility and eternity.

Karyn’s double lung transplant lasted seventeen years- more than almost anyone else with the disease of LAM. I think part of the reason was that she was able to rise above her own very reasonable anxiety. When others gave to her, she was still focused on giving to others. Some sages see the number 17 as a combination of six and eleven. The Talmud relates that one who gives the needy some substantial material help is showered with six blessings, but one who does not have the physical means but gives words of consolation and encouragement is endowed with eleven blessings. For the rare people who can do both, the blessings given are seventeen, which is the gematria, the numerical equivalent of the word TOV meaning ‘good’ in Hebrew. Karyn could relate to so many types of people on so many levels of ‘Tov’ even and especially during her magic Tov-17 last years.

I remember personally telling Karyn when I felt the stresses of aging, that I liked playing a harmonica. She responded that it was very good for strengthening lungs. This year I blew the shofar for the month of Elul in the JCC’s meditation group and I was told that it came out stronger than ever and they wanted to know how that fit with aging. I replied that I’m learning more to get out of the way. I think Karyn was learning that too. The mystics teach that divine loving Mazal- literally meaning flow- is always present, but we as receivers need to remove any static or debris that is blocking that flow.

A related image now in my grieving mind, is watching videos of colorful hot air balloons in New Mexico. Someone online actually compared the Teshuva process of this time of year to ascending those balloons. The trick to going higher is to know what and when to dispose of what is no longer needed from the balloon. The disconnect from gravity becomes the ascension to a more exalted plane of existence. The precious air needed for physical life can be substituted with a more rarefied atmosphere of eternal existence. 

The most popular book in the world is the Bible and the most well-read book in the Bible is Tehilim- the book of Psalms, which encompasses the entire gamut of human emotion. This book’s grand finale is a verse celebrating the music of creation and the Creator. The last verse is a phrase expressing gratitude to G-d not only by the soul, but for the soul’s ability to breathe! Karyn Schad z”l, conveyed this appreciation literally with every breath of her life. May we literally be ‘inspired’ to do the same with each breath we take while in the precious atmosphere of this world, before we are carried above to more ethereal realms.