Dear Readers,
Hello! All is well here, thank G-d.
I’ve been out of comission for two days due to a stomach bug but hope to return to normal life tomorrow. Being ill in an empty apartment on one’s birthday is not the most pleasurable experience, but at least this blog post is finally all finished! :)
Anyways, I would really like to share this very happy experience that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. The story has a few parts, but ties together in a serendipitous fashion that I find extremely pleasing. :)
- Part one: About a month ago two dear friends of mine came up to visit for Shabbat (Sabbath). These friends are girls I had learned at Midrasha (Seminary) with and so obviously over Shabbat religious topics arose and one of my friends was asked to give a Dvar Torah (Torah thought/idea). She related to my family that she was learning Tractate Tannit and there was a really interesting story she had learned that goes like this: a man happens upon a woman stuck in a pit and he tells the woman that he will only rescue her if she agrees to marry him. The woman promptly accedes. After rescuing her they share details, and the whole issue is settled. The man looks around and sees a wesel nearby. He tells her that both the pit he rescued her from and the weasel will serve as their witnesses for the agreement. They then part ways. The woman waits and waits, but the man never comes to call on her and marry. Meanwhile the man had married a different woman and had two sons, completely forgetting his agreement with the woman from the pit. His first son dies from a weasel attack and shortly afterward the second one falls into a pit and dies. The man’s wife tells him these are strange ways to die and asks him if he ever did something that would cause such unusual punishment. The man suddenly remembers the pit, woman, and his agreement. His wife tells him to divorce her and go make it right. He gives her a get (religious bill of divorce), and marries the other woman. The story ends there, and that was what our friend shared with us that Shabbat.
- Part two: Two weeks ago my mom invited me to her book club meeting because they were having a special guest speaker, Jeffrey Saks. The book for the month was a short story called "Tehila" by Shai Agnon, available in both its original Hebrew as well as translated into English. I printed out the short story and read it on my bus ride home that week (the book club was on a Thursday night). I didn’t actually make it through the whole story, but I read as much as I could on the buses and trains I took to get home (when you live in the North but work in the Center getting home always takes hours and many modes of transportation). Once I got home, my mom served me copious amounts of pizza and then ushered me to the Yishuv (settlement/community) library where the talk was being held.
- Part three: Earlier that same week I saw on my facebook feed that the same friend from Midrasha was having a Siyum (completion ceremony) for Tractate Taanit scheduled for Thursday night in Jerusalem. I debated heavily about going to it, but in the end decided to go home since it takes me so long to get there and I really wanted to be home. I hoped many people would attend in person to celebrate with her, but I would have to celebrate from afar.
- Part four: At the talk many layers of the story were brought out. Jeffrey Saks is an expert on Shai Agnon and a superb translator. He had even prepared a source sheet that we loosely followed. We discussed historical events concerning Shai Agnon, biography, his talents, etc. Finally we came to a source from Masechet Taanit. The speaker began by saying that few had heard of or learned this uncommen piece of Gemara, but that it tied in nicely with Tehila. He began to tell a story...the story of the pit and the weasel! I was in shock. As he methodically made his way through the short story I felt a grin spreading across my face like wildfire. I snuck a glance around the room and nobody else seemed to be having my reaction. I whispered to my mother that I knew the story! I knew the obscure story! I was so excited, my blood was pulsing through my veins, I felt my cheeks warming and I was beginning to bounce in my seat. I could hardly contain myself! The parallel was drawn between the part in the story where the “coincidences” were simply not adding up in the sad life of the protagonist Tehila and the death of her two sons. Although it is a rather unfortunate story and parallel, I was utterly elated that I recognized a random piece of Gemara that is not so well known, and that this happened on the day of my friend’s siyum!. Afterwards I immediately phoned my friend, and excitedly told her what had happened, and all on the night of her Siyum. I felt very connected. I felt like I had truly celebrated with her, and I felt the lifeline of Torah being spread, just like blood in the body, as it passed from one to another.
Well dears, that's a happy event that transpired. I hope you enjoyed this little tale. I hope you are all doing well wherever you find yourselves. Don’t forget, the sky's the limit! (Except when it isn’t, but more on that another time…)
I remain yours etc,,
Shira
Hebrew is from google translate because on my laptop. Dreadfully sorry.
היום הייתי חולהולא היה לי זמן לחשוב על הרבה דברים . התחלתי לחשוב על אם השמים באמת הוא הגבול . זה ממש קשה לפעמים כאשר הסיכויים מרגישים שנערמו נגדנו ,ואני עדיין לא בטוח מה הוא הגבול ... עוד על כך בפעם אחרת.
Translation: today I was sick and I had time to think about a lot of things. I started thinking about if the sky really is the limit. It's really hard sometimes when the odds feel stacked against us, and I'm still not sure what's the limit... more on this another time
P.S. I realize that often I have begun to use blood references and discuss things in terms of veins and blood flow etc. I hope this has not offended anybody, it is simply due to the fact that part of my job every day is drawing blood and since I am still a beginner I am still getting used to it and thus it is on my mind a lot. On a comical note, veins are all I seem to notice about people these days: strangers on the bus, friends, family, cute boys, everyone! It’s all just veins veins veins!
