Posted on 10/15/24
| News Source: Times of Israel
“Enter, exalted holy guests, enter, exalted holy Patriarchs, to be seated in the shade of the exalted faithfulness. Enter, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Aharon, David, Moses.” (Ushpizin)
A mother sits in a tent in her backyard. Fans blow from all four corners to keep those inside comfortable. Visitors sit in semicircles around her. Most are at a loss for words, but those who knew him well and share their memories bring her a sharp sort of comfort. She laughs when his high school buddies recall the stunts he used to pull, and she hangs on to every word of those who fought alongside him. They’re impossible to miss. Their boots are heavy, and they smell like war. They’ve come straight to her house without even stopping to see their own families first.
A young woman bouncing a baby on her hip stands in the back with her husband. When his mother catches sight of her, the women exchange a wistful smile, and his mother unconsciously fingers the safety pin holding her torn collar together. They both know that the woman in the back was his first, true love.
“He didn’t get a chance to finish the job he started,” visitors overhear his mother say to a 16-year-old girl from the north who has taken a four-hour bus ride to pay her condolences, “but his soldiers will. They will make it safe for you again.” The teenager from the north who never met the soldier but had heard his story hugs his mother goodbye, and everyone watching is reminded what their people are made of.
As the afternoon wears on and the crowds thin, two men she has never seen before walk in and take their seats opposite her. The older of the two has a warm, hospitable smile. The younger one seems shy. “Do I know you?” the mother asks. “Yes and no,” the old man answers. “I, too, was asked to sacrifice my son,” he continues, and the mother, thinking she understands, offers him an empathic tilt of the head.
“What was he like?” she asks softly.
“This is him,” the old man says, putting his hand on the shoulder of the shy man next to him.
“But I thought you said—”