“How precious is your lovingkindness, O God.”  Psalm 36:7

One of the things I love about my home is the small library created for me by my husband, a gifted carpenter.  Whitewashed shelves and crown molding wrap around three walls, giving me a lovely place to house my oversized collection of books.

Over the years, it seems I have developed a habit of writing notes, poems and prayers and then saving them in a favorite book. So recently, as often happens when I pull out a long untouched volume, a small piece of paper fell from between the pages.

Unfolding the paper, I saw a circle in which I had written two letters of the Hebrew alphabet – Lamed and Vav.  I have no recollection of why I wrote them, unless it was one of my rushed attempts to simply practice the alphabet when reading Hebrew was a requirement of my graduate degree. Curious, I decided to Google the letters, and soon discovered the Jewish “Legend of the Lamed Vavniks.”

To understand the legend one has to first know a bit about Hebrew numerology, where each letter has a numerical value – lamed is 30 and vav is six. Together, the two letters equal 36 – the number, so the legend goes, of the righteous in every generation whose virtue keeps the world from destruction.

If the concept sounds familiar it’s because the legend is based, in part, on the story of Abraham who beseeched God to save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of a small group of righteous people. God replied to Abraham, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

So, what is the work of the lamed vavniks? They are fonts of loving-kindness, pouring compassion on the world and using the gifts and talents they were given by God to raise up those around them.

“Without their acts of lovingkindness,” writes Rabbi Rami Shapiro, “life on this planet would implode under the weight of human selfishness, anger, ignorance, and greed.”

In his book, “The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness,” Rabbi Shapiro explains, “Cultivating the sacred art of lovingkindness is enrolling yourself in the ranks of the lamed-vavniks. The tipping point for maintaining human life on this planet is thirty-six people practicing the sacred art of lovingkindness at any given moment. These need not be the same thirty-six people at each moment, however. I believe that people step into and out of the lamed-vavnik role, and that at any given moment thirty-six people are stepping in.”

The heart of this legend is meaningful for people of all faiths, and is reflective of the lives of so many saints who lived with a knowledge of God’s presence and a desire to be God’s love for a wounded world and wounded people.

Rabbi Shapiro writes, “Once you realize that the whole world depends on you for its very survival, you will not lack in opportunities to serve. Just remember that you are a hidden saint. While it is fine to invite others to join with you, make sure you don’t advertise your own saintliness. While being a lamed-vavnik may be good for your soul, it doesn’t belong on a resume.”

Mary Morrell, writer, editor and consultant at Wellspring Communications, may be reached at [email protected].