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Sunday, September 14, 2008

If I forget thee...

Country music seems to be especially adept at illustrating the human failing of taking for granted the people and things that should mean the most to us. 

This is perhaps best illustrated by the famous song "You were always on my mind" that belatedly attempts to reassure a neglected wife of her value... and another whose chorus goes, "It was always so easy to find an unhappy woman... till I started looking for mine", which elevates the theme of taking loved-ones for granted to an even more jarring extreme.

But just because our musical traditions don't typically dwell on this very human lapse, doesn't mean we aren't subject to the same levels of forgetfulness and ingratitude.  Think about it... there are so many things we take for granted in the course of our busy, 'important' lives: 

Despite all our flaws and shortcomings, Hashem sends us our helpmate/'Bashert' to complete us and elevate us to heretofore unknown heights of bliss.  And then slowly but surely we come to view them as interlopers of closet space and usurpers of personal autonomy.

We are initially dazzled by the miracle of life when our children are born, and then gradually come to view these little shirkers of household chores and homework as co-conspirators in a plot to keep the family perpetually in debt.

So it should come as no surprise that some of the initial wonder we felt when the treppenwitz family was privileged to move to Israel five years ago, has begun to fade.  There's no disillusionment or second thoughts, mind you... just a slow process of 'getting comfortable' that would have been impossible to imagine even two or three years ago.

This past week we had the pleasure of hosting a perfectly charming fellow blogger and her equally charming oldest son in our home.  They were visiting Israel from a country far from ours, and this trip was the first fulfillment of a promise she had made to bring each of her children to Israel as part of their Bar Mitzvah celebrations.

While Zahava and I thoroughly enjoy sitting on our back 'Mirpesset' (balcony/porch) sipping coffee in the cool morning air, or a glass of whiskey in the cool of the evening... we only occasionally feel the sense of historic wonder we once experienced when looking out at the breathtaking landscape that was familiar to Abraham and his Biblical progeny. 

Likewise, King Herod's vacation palace /fortress (Herodyon) in the nearby Judaen Desert, has become commonplace to us for its easy accessibility 15 minutes from our doorstep.

So it was a pleasant reminder to have our guests stare wide-eyed from our Mirpesset at the historic landscape below, and to hear them exclaim in wonder while standing atop the desert fortress that served as one of the last strongholds of the Bar Kochba rebellion.

At the end of their visit, our guests thanked us profusely for the insignificant gifts of food and (hopefully) comfortable beds we were able to offer them.  But in our smug familiarity we forgot to thank them for the precious gift they had given us before they left... the gift of being able to see and appreciate the specialness of the place we live.

"If I forget thee... "

Posted by David Bogner on September 14, 2008 | Permalink

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A very nice piece. Maybe we have to find some way to remind ourselves just where we are. I know occaisionally I wonder at the wonder of living where so many only dreamed of seeing....

Posted by: rickismom | Sep 14, 2008 12:30:56 PM

we are happy to help re-capture your romance this summer; july 2-july 16; dov's bar mitzvah. yeah, we're givers too!

Posted by: Debbie | Sep 14, 2008 3:59:11 PM

oh, and thanks for the TWO new posts; i was getting a little tired of seeing the results of that gin and tonic - now the picture is pushed right off my screen.

Posted by: Debbie | Sep 14, 2008 4:00:51 PM

rickismom ... Sadly, expressing such things out loud these days has become frowned upon now that we are a colonial power. :-)

Debbie ... If you come to Israel and DON'T set aside some time to visit with us Zahava and I will not be very understanding! :-)

Posted by: treppenwitz | Sep 14, 2008 4:09:53 PM

The flip side is that we have "normalized" living in Israel. That's a great thing!

That said, after 18 years, I still LOVE answering the question "where do you live?"

I live in Yerushalayim, Ir HaKodesh! (it never gets "old")

:-)

Posted by: Rivka with a capital A | Sep 14, 2008 5:28:32 PM

This is a beautiful reminder that we should never lose appreciation for the people and the land that we love.
(I linked to this post on superraizy.)

Posted by: Raizy | Sep 15, 2008 2:56:36 PM

"perfectly charming" - dude, you make me blush! but indeed, it is us who need to thank you and the lovely Zahava for your most generous hospitality, and most of all, the gift of your time.

Posted by: Hadassah | Sep 16, 2008 12:10:49 AM

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