Foolishness and Folly

October 9,2001-Fools

David has just taken a glass of pop and a book out to the balcony to watch the swimmers in the pool. The bikinis here are spectacular. This is Simchat Torah for us, so he doesn’t have to work this afternoon.

We didn’t know until about 5:00 PM yesterday about the air strikes in Afghanistan. As David was getting dressed for temple he heard it on the radio and we turned on the TV. The warnings to Americans abroad to keep a low profile struck home. I cautioned David about accepting speaking engagements where he would be exposed to publicity or where the other guests might be hostile. In the old Native American tradition of counting coupe, or tagging your enemy, he would be worth many points as an American and a rabbi. As I’ve mentioned before, this area is heavily populated with Muslims. I will prevail upon him to be careful and, if need be, I will become obnoxious about reigning in his desire to give the congregation a public presence. He did accept the Mormon speaking gig and was assured they love Jews. The PFLAG meeting is this Saturday afternoon and will, by nature, be low profile. He will be one of many guests at an interfaith gathering in Brisbane. I’ve already warned David that he will have me to contend with if he tries to do something foolish.

Folly

Last night and this morning we experienced the most “froelich” (joyously celebratory) Simchat Torah we’ve ever known. It's the celebration of completing the reading of the entire Torah scroll (Five Books of Moses) and beginning to read it all over. The place was packed. The evening service had standing room only. In Akron, the honor of carrying the scrolls was doled out in an orderly fashion. Here it’s whoever wants to have a go. There are three large scrolls and six tiny ones. Appropriate Israeli songs were played on a boom box and everyone sang along, swaying to the rhythm and clapping to the beat. I lost count of the number of times they marched around. As one person finished his or her circuit of the congregation and handed the Torah over to the next honoree, they took a drink of “schnapps.” In this case, it’s Scotch since the head of the ritual committee, is Scottish. When things settled down, David said that services would not continue until he was sober.

Syd Bruce was honored with saying the blessings for the reading of the final verses of the final chapter of the Torah. His wife, Janet, read the English translation, his son, Daniel also said the blessings. His daughter, Rebekka, read Haftarah. I would like to adopt this entire family. Their Uncle Ben was at services last night and this morning. We may have a convert yet. Ben has always gone to the orthodox synagogue, but he confided in me today that this was the first time he said kaddish (a prayer praising God said in memory of those who have died) and knew what it meant.

Several people have already started a campaign to get us to think about staying here. It’s really funny because none of them knows that it’s my decision where we live from now on. As David was planning to retire, we realized I’ve never in my life decided where I would live. I’ve told Syd, especially, that if he wants us to consider it at all, he has to convince our kids to move here. They also don’t understand that David really wants to be retired. His happiest times are when he leaves the temple and is free for a while. If we stayed, they’d still not have a rabbi. It’s very hard to get permanent resident status in Australia, but the rabbi who works for the government told us not to worry. He’d take care of our children. I guess we’re no problem. As retirees, all we have to show is that we have enough in reserve so that we wouldn’t be a burden to the country.

Between 6-7 PM we have to turn on every light in our apartment. Publicity photos are being taken and they want the buildings to show well. I took a great shot of our pool. David thinks I should sell it to them.

David just moved in from the balcony and is stretched out on the couch. I guess the bikinis are gone for the day.

Toby