Saturday, August 17, 2019

Shabbat morning at the House of a Hundred Grandmothers: Partway through the Torah reading, the leader says prayers for people who are ill. (Usually, we identify people by their name and their father's name; for these prayers, we use their mother's name.) Today, a name that's been on the list for a while is missing. A man sitting behind me calls out "You forgot David." There's a moment's pause. Someone else says, "David passed away." "What? No! When?" Other voices say "Monday? Tuesday?" Another silence. The man behind me quietly repeats "Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh." A woman who can see him tells me later that he looks like he's been punched. We wait until he falls silent. Then the leader looks back at his texts and resumes praying for the health of the others who had been named.