10/27/11
Dear Fellow Student,
In the second chapter of Number our Days something very obtuse stood out to me. Shmuel is a man who is seen as an anti-semitic by others in his community. Shmuel sees himself as a Jeremiah, one who understands much that does not constitute the general consensus. He feels that much is misunderstood, that "[those around him are] too small to bear the covenant" (p. 50). He says "The weight of Jewish History, Jewish thought is too heavy for them… …[They] have turned justice into poison, the fruit of righteousness into wormwood."
As I have reflected upon these assertions I cannot help but agree with Shmuel. The reality is that a majority of people in life (and religion) can be compared to the people of Isreal, worshiping the golden calf when the profit turns his back. Most people in life understand "what", but they do not understand "why". If we understand why then our capacity grows exponentially to act in truth.
Shmuel is sickened by the clout around him. Although it may be uncouth to say, the Jews around him do not stand up to muster. They are as cattle, aimlessly following a pastor. Shmuel tells Myerhoff a story of how he once saw a picture in a newspaper of an Israeli soldier smiling with his foot on the chest of a dead Arab. Shmuel's exclamation was "Are we less brutes than them?" Meanwhile the others roundabout Shmuel give a hoot and a whistle for Isreal's triumph.
Signed,
Alexander Hatch Spencer
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