Interlude II

BS"D

I really wasn't intending to write another apology post. But the last two weeks have turned everything upside down.

Before Rosh Hashana, I 'finished' an article about Eliezer, Avraham's servant. Spoiler alert - a key theme was Eliezer's pain over being unable to pass on Jewishness (as it then was) through his own family and bloodline. A pain shared by some gerim today.

I still think that this is an important message to teach, at the right time. But now is not the right time. Not when so many Jewish families in Israel have been wiped out altogether, and so many others are in limbo over whether their loved ones are alive, dead or will make it home safely. It would be wrong, at such a time of shared pain, to even try diverting attention to such a different situation. 

So I'm putting that article on hold. The same goes for my planned ones on Hagar and Timna. No doubt I'll end up rewriting them - it would be wrong not to pause and reassess after the shock of Simchat Torah 5784 (and I'd be wary of anyone who didn't).

In the meantime, this article is well worth a read for those of us in 'Chutz':

https://5townscentral.com/2023/10/17/r-efrem-goldberg-an-open-letter-to-my-fellow-jews-in-the-diaspora/

And finally - some of my calmest times in the past two weeks have been studying Torah, whether at home or in the study hall. There is something both deeply anchoring and relevant about the Torah at this time - and I mean Torah in the wider sense, including Tehillim and Megillot. I do have some ideas on how to build on this, and hope to share when I can. 

In the meantime, may G-d watch over us wherever we are - especially in Eretz Yisrael. שבת שלום