THE SPIRITUAL MARINES
Dr. Miriam Adahan
COSMIC SURGERY: THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Dr. Miriam Adahan
Next to my desk is an ever-growing stack of newspapers which I’ve been collecting ever since the cursed Oslo Death Process began. I want to share in the pain of the families, to know something of their lives and how they are dealing with the grief. The world gets dry statistics about the number who died. But numbers don’t stories, like the tragedy of two mothers in Haifa, Carmit Ron and Rachel Koren, who lost their husbands and their only two children in the March 31 blast while dining in a restaurant close to home. Anat and Ofir Ron were 21 and 17. Ran and Gal Koren were 18 and 15. Numbers don’t say what it is like to prepare a meal for one, to do laundry for one, to go past empty rooms once filled with the sounds of life and laughter and awaken each morning to deafening silence. .
Last Shabbos, as I sat in my comfortable Lazy Boy reading the newspaper, I saw an article about Amichai Dahan, a 20 year old former policeman who was shot a year ago in a terror incident, which shattered his body, destroying his arm, ankle and bladder.
A rabbi once told one of his most promising students, "You think you're so holy? Then go spend a week with your parents!" If this joke makes you smile, then it's likely that the idea of being with family members arouses a mixture of emotions in you. All the joys and tensions inherent in either being with people for prolonged periods of time - or being alone – are heightened at holiday times, along with old behavioral patterns. Childhood fears and jealousies may return to haunt us as in, "Am I wanted, needed and loved – or rejected and insignificant? Who is getting the most love and attention? Who has the looks, brains, confidence, prestige and possessions?"
A message to all single girls: please do not marry a smoker! Yes, you might be so desperate to get married that you don't care what his bad habits are. Or, you may be very attracted to the smoker, because smokers can seem so romantic, with their brazen and impetuous bravado, as they thumb their noses at rabbis, research and reality.
STAYING "HIGH" FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAYS
Dr. Miriam Adahan
DON'T MARRY A SMOKER
Dr. Miriam Adahan