This is me and Kirvaya Maayan Newman at Rav Daniel and Batya Kohn's house last night, having a time of it at the first post-wedding Sheva Brachot for Jacqui and David Fuchs. David Fuchs was my roommate. Now he's Jacqui's roomate. I look goofy in this shot, because I have to make weird faces when being photographed, otherwise my eyes end up all cocked or closed, as can be seen in a rough shot at the bottom of this post. Below is the amazing Avraham Eliezer and some other folks I know, dancing at Sarah and Pesach's wedding last month. Parts of Pesach are at lower left.
So much happens between posts that doesn't make it onto the blog. When inspiration strikes, I'm usually too tired or occupied to post. When I take a moment to post, I usually forget what was so inspiring. I think I let the crappy signal affect me too much, use it as an excuse not to blog. Also, there's the ever-present tension between blogger and reader; the need for an active readership to make the blog feel alive, and the need for a dynamic blogger to keep the blog readable.
By the way, what happened to that Anonymous gal from a few posts back. I think I bugged her out with my "family restaurant" comment.
For now, here's a bit of a tale of prayer-
My friend Big Viv sent me some notes to put into the Kotel (Western Wall). So I went there to pray Mincha (afternoon prayer) right before the wedding of my roommate David Fuchs. We were both dressed up all snappy for the event. The Chabad guys were there with a wagon of Tefillin, and I hadn't wrapped that morning, so I started sifting through the cart for a lefty arm tefillin. I wrapped, said
Sh'ma Yisrael and started taking off the tefillin when a secular Sefardi guy in his 40s came up and asked me if he could wrap too. I almost told him that I wasn't working there, and then I realized what a great opportunity had been placed in my hands.
He rolled up his sleeve, and I wrapped the straps on his arm, and placed the tefillin on his head, leading him in all the blessings along the way. I looked around- Another secualr guy with his kids, all wearing the paper Kippot they have for Kotel visitors. Two Ethiopian soldiers, wearing the nylon kippot that Chabad provided (I confess-- I was wearing my black Kangol for wedding styles, with no Yamicha under, so I too wore a white nylon bar-mitzvah kippah borrowed from the cart). It really hit me-- Jews come to the Kotel, and they
want to pray. They want to connect to God and the Tradition. They come up to the Chabad cart and shyly ask for help partaking in a ritual that our people have been performing for millennia. They want to re-link to their People and our ways (re-link is the meaning of the Latin
relegere--from which we get "religion--" or so I read once, though there are other opinions). To wrap tefillin on the arm and head of a grown man is a profound way of sharing the beauty of Jewish heritage. He approached with such purity and simplicity- a small request-- could he, too partake in the Mitzvah? Could he, too, be a part of the chain?
After that, I went to pray. I was standing maybe four feet from the Wall, swaying and making noises and crying out and muttering and scrunching up my face and moaning and maybe even wailing a bit, and I noticed this kid come up on my left and kiss the wall, as many of us do (don't call it idolatry- even if it is). He leaned against the wall a while, and I closed my eyes again and continued praying. At some point I opened my eyes again, and saw the kid, leaning against the wall facing me and staring at me-- clearly in utter rapture at my beatific glow and my saintly devotions to the Lord.
Or he'd never seen someone make such funny faces before.
Since I was sticking notes in the wall, which I never do-- I think pilgrims and tourists do that more than regulars-- I decided to write my own little note. My third one ever, which said the same thing as my famous Notes in the Wall from 1987 and 1998, except this time in Hebrew, and with a bit more qualification to avoid undesired consequence.
I
would tell you about the guy who cleans up the fallen notes at the Wall, but it might be too harsh for public consumption.
_____
Take note of the new chapter name and number.
God Willing, it looks like our drought is going to end-- the sky has been decidedly unlcear today. This winter has been way too sunny and blue-skied.
*
Note on the etymology of Religion: Forget it-- I had read that "re-link" thing years ago, but a little bit of Googling suggests that everyone has a different answer for the origin of the word. I am not going to do deep research now, but at least we all now know it's complicated
