Adventures at Rasa Ranch #40

[Guest guest]

8/22/02 "Everybody's Sky"

 

Tonight at the sunset spot I ran into and had a long talk with a woman

whom I had seen twice before, once down at the river and once at the

corner store. We were irresistible to one another each time because

our mid-section profiles looked just about the same! In this, our

longest encounter, after the brief pregnancy-related catching up, we

talked about spirituality. She told me that while she was able to

appreciate many paths, she would mainly describe herself as an

Orthodox Jewish Renewalist. She was very interested to know that,

like herself, I, too, was born into a Jewish family and raised

traditionally. I admitted that I hadn't entered a synagogue in

probably a decade or more, but even so, some of the language,

prayers, and music were still very much alive inside of me. We ended

up singing together in Hebrew while the sun went down.

 

After shifting to the opposite direction and waiting for the moon to

rise we spoke about our babies. She told me that if she were to have

a boy it was an absolute certainty she and her devout husband would

have him circumcised. In fact, they had already chosen a moyel who

would come to their home in order to perform the ritual. She was

mentioning this to me because she was troubled by a conversation that

had taken place recently with some of the people in the community.

 

The immediate area in which we live is a bit unusual in that it is

quite full of very earth-conscious folks, some hardcore

nature-lovers, and a good share of young and old hippies. In fact, a

favorite pastime for the locals around here is to spend the day

skinny-dipping in the river. It seemed that in sharing her decision

to circumcise her son she stirred up quite a commotion and some

people really gave her a hard time about it. She said that she spoke

very firmly about her Judaic reasons for this choice and that she was

clear about it in this confrontation with them. I supported her by

saying that one has to do what feels right inside one's innermost

core and that it really isn't anybody else's affair. She agreed

wholeheartedly and then wanted to know how I was handling "the

pressure."

 

I laughed. I told her that I had absolutely no intention of

circumcising this baby. "No way!" I exclaimed as I shook my head,

smiling. I told her that I probably felt as strongly about it as she

did. Her face got tight and I noticed she had slowly crossed her arms

on top of her big tummy. I giggled and said, "Although I have kind of

the opposite issue: the community here might support that choice but

my Jewish relatives would be completely horrified!" I continued,

"But I don't care. They've already had their babies. This one is

mine." My new friend still seemed a bit uncomfortable. I paused,

touched her arm and looked right into her eyes. I said softly,

"This is really about all of us living in peace with one another."

She nodded, agreed, and relaxed.

 

The moon was red on the horizon and we were silent while we watched it

emerge, big and full, casting a faint orange glow behind the black

silhouettes of the tall pines. Eventually we rose, too. We wished

each other sincere blessings for our births, we embraced, and we said

goodnight with our palms touching at our hearts.