Acts of Faith: A Novel by Erich Segal

Author:Erich Segal [Segal, Erich]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780804153201
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2015-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

Deborah took the entrance examinations on June 27 and 28, 1972. Twelve hours of written tests on Torah, Talmud, History, and Language, followed by an oral—which I knew she’d pass with flying colors.

Before she left to return to the kibbutz—and her son—Deborah had the awesome task of confronting our parents with the secret of her motherhood.

She waited till the eve of the first Sabbath Papa was home and once again comfortable in his seat at the head of the table. After dinner, with our sisters, their husbands, and children all in attendance—a kind of Greek chorus to react to the drama—she told her story.

They cried for Avi Ben-Ami, and my father pledged to say a month of Psalms in memory of his heroic son-in-law—a response which made Deborah even more ashamed. Everyone agreed it was a blessing that Avi still lived on in their son.

My mother did not hide her joy as she looked forward to the sound of a child’s laughter echoing in the house once more. And, perhaps most important, my noble sister would help to heal my ailing father’s broken spirit.

With my psychoanalytic bent—acquired from Beller—I concluded that my father viewed young Eli as a replacement for me, thereby consigning me not only to oblivion but to nonexistence.

But Deborah’s departure on Thursday, June 29, left me wholly unprepared to confront the person I had so conscientiously avoided during the frenzy of her preparations: myself. And at this of all times, the July Fourth holiday weekend. The Festival of Independence.

It was—to be poetic—at this sunset of what would be a dark night of the soul that I received the call that altered the course of my life.

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