NOAH'S SURGERY

Yesterday my son Noah asked me, in reference to the surgery, "Dad, am I going to die?"

After struggling with how to address that question and realizing the true torment he was having, I answered,

"G-d willing, you will be fine."

The answer I came up with, G-d willing, tells alot about what being a Jew is all about.

I will not lie to my son and tell him everything is going to be fine. I could not tell him something that I could not personally back up. I did tell him something that I believe my Jewish upbringing allows me to say. "G-d willing".

We have done our due diligence in reference to the surgeon, the hospital, the medicines, etc. I cannot go beyond what is humanly possible. I can, however, provide my feelings that faith in G-d will help Noah through this ordeal.

As the Rabbi recently stated, G-d and Torah sometimes do take a backseat to the busy lives that we lead. Yet when we are confronted with things in our lives that our beyond human comprehension, usually life and death issues, we invoke G-d's divine province. While we, as Jews try to remember G-d in everyday events with prayers and study, we especially think of the divinity when we are dwarfed by life's slings and arrows.

Tomorrow Noah ("I will be brave") is supposed to have brain surgery at NYU. We are supposed to get to the hospital by 6:30am. The surgery is supposed to last anywhere from 5 to 7 hours and he supposed to be in the NICU and thereafter in the hospital for a total of 7 days.

Hopefully Noah, as the Men's Club's honorary junior member, will be ready to join us for the next Men's club breakfast scheduled for October 16, 2005.

Shalom. Jeremy