Page 40 - Jewish News _August 2021_

40A August 2021 COMMENTARY

After the fall Antisemitism: Will it ever end?

HELP... By Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz, Community Chaplain
HELP...
of walking again.
n a hot day in May, I violated a
commandment. Kind of.
Limited to my bed, walker and
i
is a OThe Torah forbids breaking wheelchair, I’ve often felt like a
s a
one bone in particular. The injunction
beached whale. At least Covid-19
prompted the mass adoption of tech-
is found in Exodus 12:46, “And you
phone
phone shall not break any of its bones,” i.e., nology that has allowed me to continue
the Passover lamb’s shank bones.
to work remotely.
call Well, I transgressed this directive. truly makes one conscious of the gifts
call
A traumatic experience like this
Not in terms of
away
a wa y a lamb’s shank our bodies make possible. I’m appre-
ciative for the orthopedic science that
bone but my own,
a.k.a. my tibia.
sible. Most of all, I’m thankful to so
Though I was made my reconstructive surgery pos-
not very high on many who sent meals, flowers, cards
In partnership with The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee and the same ladder and donations, and to those who kept
the generosity of our donors, JFCS of the Suncoast is able to offer I’ve used for the me in their prayers and often called to
the following services at no cost to anyone in the past 12 years to just check in. Such support has meant a
Jewish community regardless of age: Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz trim the same great deal to me and my family.
bougainvillea bush located near our Now back to the Passover shank
• A friendly voice front door, the ladder became unstable bone. Why, specifically, were we not
• Counseling Get the and no longer held. As it came down, of to break it at the ancient Seder table?
course, did I. In that moment, I reached
Though respected commentators, in-
• Caregiver support assistance for one of the bush’s branches to help cluding Maimonides, have offered ex-
• Bereavement support groups cushion the fall but quickly realized the planations, the actual reason appears
elusive.
futility of this attempt to slow my fall.
• Pastoral care you need! My body then proceeded to vio-
• Delivered meals lently swing laterally with my knee out
• Temporary financial assistance in front and heading for an imposing
cement column adorning the entrance
to our home. I couldn’t do anything but
If you are in need of watch as it slammed into the column,
assistance, don’t hesitate prompting me to shout, “I just killed
to call JFCS at my knee.”
941-366-2224 Even while suffering intense pain,
extension 112. I remained grateful that my head, neck
and back were not involved. I managed
to crawl a few feet into the house and
recall thinking how good the air condi-
tioning felt. With my torso inside and
legs outside, I thought of The Wizard of
Oz, when Dorothy’s farmhouse landed
on the Wicked Witch of the East amid
Make someone a cyclone. The witch’s two feet, clad in
those famous ruby slippers that subse-
quently became Dorothy’s, extended
feel special out from under the farmhouse while
the rest of her body laid under it. This
reflects my inclination to try to main-
by making a donation in tain a sense of humor even in difficult
times.
Hospital x-rays revealed a #6 frac-
their name. ture of the plateau tibia, the most se-
vere of its kind. In the collision with
the column, the end of my femur was Rabbi Jonathan Katz has missed simple things
hurled into the tibia positioned direct- like being able to take his dog Sadie for walks
ly across it in the knee. Placed in ICU Some suggest that breaking bones
due to concern that expansive swelling at the Seder is not fitting because we
could limit blood flow and thereby en- are to be regarded like royalty reclin-
danger leg tissue, I was reassured by a ing on pillows at a banquet. Reminis-
nurse who said I was the only one on cent of the matzah, others contend that
the unit not on life support. breaking bones (in order to, perhaps,
Surgery the following morning in- consume their marrow) takes time and
stalled a fixator, a commonly used de- the Israelites had to hurry up and eat
vice, to keep my leg stabilized and to and get out of Egypt as soon as pos-
allow swelling to subside. It resembles sible. There is also the suggestion that
a medieval torture contraption with the bones might be broken in order to
large pins inserted into my shin and share the lamb with a neighbor. This
femur. It was so painful that I forgot too would take time, thereby delaying
about my knee discomfort. I resembled the Israelites’ departure.
a contortionist from Cirque du Soleil I don’t think we’ll ever know for
while making my way to the bathroom. sure why the shank bone should not be
Call Bonnie at Or visit jfedsrq.org/tribute Following the actual knee sur- broken. Right now, I’m just relieved
941.343.2115 to donate gery a week later to insert plates and mine is firmly on the mend.
Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz serves as the
screws into the top of the tibia, I am
now in my 10 week of not being able Community Chaplain and Director of
th
to put any weight on my leg. But, if the JFCS Jewish Healing Program. His
things go according to plan, in two position is underwritten by The Jewish
weeks I’ll move into the starting phase Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

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