When everything is personal

Simchat Torah, our time of rejoicing, this year has arrived in a very unexpected way. On the international level, we know of the unprecedented “deal” that US President Donald Trump constructed. It will surely be the subject of dozens of books and dissertations that will analyze the gentle and not-so-gentle nudges to get the many parties together.

The ever-mercurial president requested a short flyover of Israel before the official landing reception ceremony. Apparently,  that was done, slightly lengthening the very tight schedule set out for the visit.

On the national level, as I write, he is on his way to Israel’s Knesset to address the Israeli people. This will be a historical speech with no doubt. It is unlikely to be compared with Abraham Lincoln’s spare and short words, but perhaps may be more likely to be compared to Churchill, who had a similar situation to deal with, the rearranging of a world order, but without the aggravation of TikTok or X to deal with.

But on to the personal level. Yes, this was supposed to be a blog about culture. I leave you the words of my new friend Barry Davis, who kindly included me in his article on being optimistic as an arts professional in The Jerusalem Post Simchat Torah Supplememt today.

And here, I must apologize to my children. It is terrible to have a writer in the family. I get it. Without comparisons, I can only nod to my greaters as writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron famously said, “everything is copy.”

With that said, on to the personal. Our son and his wife had (note the tense) been expecting a daughter roughly in October, so when on the end of our chag, my husband passed me the phone to hear their expected good news; it was a shock to hear the sadness in his voice telling me of the stillbirth they experienced. We joined them and their daughter and our mechutanim (our daughter-in-law’s parents) yesterday to see that each day that passes is a blessing as they rearrange and adjust between themselves and face an unplanned-for future.

With the dawn of a new age in the Middle East, this too is a useful comparison. We are still at the beginning. We have not yet heard from our patron, yet, we do know that no one side got all their wishes. It is a compromise on every level. Such is what we (the transplanted Americans) were taught. We all give a little (or a lot) to get to the wider picture.

Simultaneously, it seems, the national and soon to be international mood as the Egyptian piece of the day is still in front of us.

As we read in Kohelet just on Shabbat, “a time for every experience under heaven:

A time for being born and a time for dying,

… a time for slaying and a time for healing

… a time for wailing and a time for dancing

… a time for war and a time for peace.

… He brings everything to pass precisely at its time…” (from Kohelet. The Five Megilloth and Jonah, the Jewish Publication Society of America, 2d printing 1975)

We will follow all the religious rules of our holiday: We will dance, we will be joyful. We will also wonder why the Jewish religion has been quiet on this subject. Maybe this is for the best? Maybe it is God’s way to save a worse decision for the little one? As my mechutenet asked, maybe she was too pure to stay in this world and was called to Him? After thousands of women throughout all the ages have faced this alone, where is the fixing of the world?