Together in isolation

Inspired by the videos of Italians singing together across courtyards while they are all quarantined,
we decided to open our dining room windows Friday night when we sang Shalom Aleichem.

We share a courtyard with an SRO, a single residence occupancy hotel, that is temporary shelter for folks just out of prison or mental hospitals.

About twenty years ago I remember hearing the sound of our then neighbors on the third floor singing Shalom Aleichem as we waited for my husband to arrive home from work. I felt so deeply comforted by their singing. Perhaps someone felt a bit of comfort and human connection from our voices Friday night.

My youngest and I took a walk in the park in late afternoon yesterday. Our older son received a frantic call from the blood center to donate platelets and went this morning to donate. He is just now eating a restorative lunch.

I suppose that eventually we will settle into the new normal. Until then we are all anxious

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מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for giving life to all. I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...

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sarah in nyc

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