I find myself thinking today of the games that animated my childhood. Some I owned and some I envied – meaning I did whatever I could to try to bring them out during playdates and sleepovers at friends’ houses who had them. Who remembers “Operation?” You had to use tiny metal grabbers to remove tiny bones from a cardboard figure, and if metal touched metal, the figure buzzed and the nose turned red. Or pickup sticks, which is exactly what it sounds like; the object being to separate and accumulate as many spaghetti-thin sticks as possible one at a time, without moving the heap. What do these and games like them have in common, besides giving Generation X lifelong anxiety?!
They required a steady hand and a quiet mind. You had to survey the big picture, think strategically and move thoughtfully, without excessive speed. Now those are skills for a lifetime. So thank you after all, Milton Bradley!
Today finds many of us holding our breaths and trying hard to maintain that kind of steadiness, as the news of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has come to light. Is it possible that this sentence will be out of date between my writing it and your reading it? Is there a chance it could all fall apart? The answer is yes, to both questions.
But oh, what if it goes through?
If the first wave of hostages are returned to their families’ waiting arms. If the redemption of the captives were to move from prayer to reality. If the suffering of Israelis and Gazans alike can lessen. It all feels like too much to hope for. Yet our hope remains, fragile perhaps, but resilient and true.
Earlier this afternoon I heard a reporter break down some of the statistics on those awaiting freedom, by nationality, gender and age. “Two are under five years old,” he intoned. “Yes,” I thought in response. “Ariel and Kfir Babbas.” Those red-headed babies who have been held hostage longer than they have been free. Hear their names. Hear all their names, just as Shemot, our weekly Torah portion bids us to do in its opening verses: repeating the names of Jacob’s sons so that we might remember how they contribute to our story, and how the next part takes shape.
This Shabbat, may our prayers for safe passage and the next phases of healing from the unimaginable find new life at last.
And, join us for a celebratory service with Afrosemitic Experience at 7:00pm in the Social Hall.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman
