Sukkot
was quite enjoyable. The eleven of us (we are no longer just ten) had the first
evening together. For the first few meals we alternated between our daughters’
homes. On the second day was an annual group lunch hosted by friends. The
weather was very nice and the crowd was a bit smaller than previous years so I
felt I had a good chance to chat with everyone there. On Sabbath we were
supposed to eat in the Sukkah of
friends who live on “our old block,” Brook Road, over a mile from our apartment.
Unfortunately, it was absolutely pouring the entire day. Before the holiday
started, we had heard the forecast and told them we might not make it: we do
not drive on Jewish holidays and between my pulmonary problems and Barry’s
arthritis, a long walk in the rain is a bit risky.
We were especially cautious because Barry had to leave on
Saturday night after Sabbath to attend a meeting in Europe. Normally he would
not travel during the holiday but this was a notable exception that could not
be avoided. He arrived home on Wednesday about two hours before the final round
of holidays began. The children were in school while he was away, so I had a
restful time during those few days, and our daughters fed me very well each
evening. The final two days were also holidays. We had a lovely lunch with the
whole family at Simmie’s house along with her husbands’ parents who were in
town for the holiday. The Sukkot
holiday is followed by Simchat Torah,
a day that is a celebration of the Torah
(Five Books of Moses). The Torah is
read each year in a cycle that completes on this holiday with the final verses
of Deuteronomy and starts again in Genesis with “In the beginning….”,
accompanied by singing, dancing, and a bit too much sugar.
First thing Sunday morning we packed up and left to head
back to New York, where a very large pile of mail, much of it junk, had
accumulated through the mail slot in our front door. I spent the better part of
the afternoon weeding through that.
A new opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” based on the 1985 Palestinian
terrorist hijacking of a cruise ship (the Achille Lauro) and murder of a
disabled Jewish-American passenger (Leon Klinghoffer) is opening today at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York. Rabbi
Avi Weiss was interviewed by the FOX TV New York affiliate. I cannot possibly
express these thoughts more eloquently than he has.
“Hogan’s Heroes” was a CBS television situation comedy set in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II that ran 168 episodes from 1965 to 1971. It featured an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations Unit from the camp who were easily able to get things past the incompetent commandant and inept sergeant-of-the-guard. Even as a young teenager I was puzzled by the idea of a comedy based on such a dark period. But there was no question of which side represented good and which represented evil. Although I have not seen, nor do I intend to see, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” and I am sympathetic to the suffering of people on both sides of the Middle East Conflict, this particular act of cold blooded murder seems unequivocally heinous to me, every bit as heinous as the recent beheadings carried out by ISIS in Syria. Although I am unable to go into Manhattan and join the protests in front of the Met today, my heart is very much with those who are taking the time to make this important statement.
As we begin this new year and celebrate so much of what is good in the world, may we move speedily towards peace and get back to curing disease.
Love,
Rebecca
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