Time Marches On

Last Friday evening, when we were in Jerusalem, we walked down to the home of good friends for Shabbat dinner.  We followed the same route that we followed when we lived there, diagonally across the street from our hotel.  On the way I remarked to my wife that our visit to Jerusalem was the closest thing possible to time travel, that we seemed to have gone back at least four years in time.  On the surface everything seemed the same as it was when we left in 2008.

But one doesn’t have to go far to see important differences.  Jaffa Road, which was riddled with ditches when we left, is now a beautiful pedestrian walkway, with the new Light Rail running down its middle and the exteriors of its old buildings cleaned, their former glory restored.

More important from our point of view are the changes that have occurred in some of our friends.  One has been struck down by Alzheimers and now requires a 24-hour a day caretaker.  Another is showing the first signs of dementia, having forgotten some significant events and beginning to search for words.  A third friend has developed bladder cancer, while a fourth has been struck by prostate cancer, and and a fifth has died.  

But most of our friends seem relatively healthy and appear to be enjoying life.  They tell us of new grandchildren or great-grandchildren.  They tell us of their grandchildren marrying and their widowed children remarrying.  They engage in volunteer work, pursue their hobbies, and travel.  Younger friends continue to find pleasure and fulfillment in their work.  The twin infants whom we photographed on our sitting room rug are now lively little girls, rushing to show us their drawings.

In the four years we’ve been away, the cycle of life has continued to operate and now that we’ve returned we see the results  – birth, marriage, productivity, decline, and death.  Nothing remains the same.  This is as it's always been, no different now than in the days of King Solomon.   We are borne along the stream of life and if I'm nearing the end of my journey, I'm still enjoying the ride.



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