Parashat Va-yishlah, Genesis 32:4–36:43
This week's commentary was written by Cantor Nancy Abramson, Director, H. L. Miller Cantorial School, JTS.
Assumptions and Appearances
Things are not always as they appear to be. And when assumptions are based on circumstantial or incomplete evidence, we are often surprised or disappointed by what unfolds. My son, who is traveling for a few months after graduating from college, shared this experience in his blog:
I arrived at the nearby train station. I had told
Polly (one of my hosts) over the phone that I'd arrive at 1:15 on the train. As
I waited for my transfer, [my destination] appeared on the departures board as a
picture of a bus. I looked around and saw other people heading outside the
station and figured it couldn't hurt to follow them. Sure enough, my "train" was
a bus. And when it arrived at the prearranged time—when Polly had said she would
be there to pick me up—I found myself alone at the station.
Well, almost alone.
There was a woman, face barely visible beneath rings and chains of metal,
sitting on a bench beside a young blonde girl, who, a few minutes [later] asked
in French if I'd come on the train. Apparently I responded in French that I'd
come on a bus, though this I don't remember; nor do I know how to conjugate that
response. After a few more minutes, I got the idea, turned to them, and asked if
they were waiting for me. In fact, they were. This literal "metal-head" was
Polly, the British woman with whom I'd been corresponding, and the blonde was
her very young-looking 19-year-old daughter, Summer Rose, whom I hadn't known to
exist.
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