Doublelife: One Family, Two Faiths and a Journey of Hope by Harold Berman & Gayle Redlingshafer Berman

Author:Harold Berman & Gayle Redlingshafer Berman [Berman, Harold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2013-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Love,

Harold

October 17, 2000

Dear Harold,

The mikveh was much easier than the circumcision! I woke up this morning rehearsing what we would say to the rabbis, how we would convince them that this interfaith couple is sincere in their decision to raise Micah as a Jew. Now that it’s over, I have no idea what they thought, since they never bothered to call us into the room. I don’t know what Rabbi Fogel said to them, although any time I walked by, all I heard was small talk coming through the half-open door. Strange that they didn’t feel the need to speak with the parents of the little convert before the big dunk.

They were nice to let me stand in the mikveh room and watch. They even said I could take pictures. Since I couldn’t take Micah in myself, not being Jewish, this gave me a way to feel a part of things. Even though you managed to dunk him without drowning him, Micah sounded like he was going through the circumcision again. God may have had some trouble hearing the rabbis say the blessings over the weeping and wailing.

I certainly had trouble hearing them. I’m not sure why the rabbis never entered the mikveh room, remaining unseeing and unseen from the adjoining room. Who were the other two rabbis, anyway? I understood that they were from two other Conservative temples, but they introduced themselves so quickly that I didn’t catch their names.

I wonder if Micah feels any different now. The circumcision became momentous for me, if only because of the pain. I expected the mikveh to feel momentous too. It was special, just the three of us in the room together (and it’s very clear to me where the idea of baptism came from). But I had expected more from the rabbis.

I hadn’t envisioned that they wouldn’t even be interested in speaking with us beforehand, they wouldn’t be interested in witnessing the event as it was happening, and they wouldn’t show any more enthusiasm than a half-hearted “mazel tov” at the end before they scurried away. We walked outside, and I wondered, “Is that it? Is it over?”

Micah certainly looks happy. Although swimming lessons are next on the “to do” list.

I guess I’m the minority in our family now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.