A Contemporary Tale, Part 2

A Contemporary Tale, Part 2
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

It took almost an hour, but Chaim finally drifted off to a fitful sleep. He soon found himself enveloped in a disorienting dream, a very disorienting dream.

He was sitting at his small round, about 32 inches in diameter, oak table. It was well made, probably would outlive him. He had bought it from a responsible conscientious furniture maker who purchased all his materials from other small companies that practiced selective cutting, deliberately limiting their wood harvests. That type of purchase cost more, but was well worth it. But who was this person seated across from him?

He frowned, then scowled. Whoever this person was, he was dressed like a first century Jew, in a long shirt-like tunic, a second outer tunic, and an outer robe-like coat with tzitzit. His head cleared, his eyes adjusted, and no, not him. No! Anyone but him.

Chaim desperately wanted to leave, to bolt, to get away as fast as he could. But where could he go? In his dream, it was now late at night, a brutal windy, horizontal rain kind of night. Going out, not an option. He still wanted to get away, but to his horror, discovered he was stuck to his chair, unable to move. What a nightmare!

He had no choice but to listen to what this first-century-rabbi-person was saying. Oh well. “Huh, what? Hatred and the Shoah? Deliberate man-created divisions? Neighbors? Oskar Shindler?” Chaim thought about his great grandmother who’d survived Dachau, Rivka Hirsch. She had became so embittered that she hated all Germans. No exceptions. But, he wondered, “How then, do you deal with Shindler? Is it right to lump him in with other Germans? Another intrusive thought. This is getting annoying.”

More thoughts: “Shindler, that German who’d risked everything to help Jews, and Rivka. Was he, Chaim, like her in some way? Was he lumping all kinds of different people together? That first-century-rabbi-person kept droning on. Was he doing that as a ploy to get him to think? If so, it sure was working. Maybe if I managed to focus on what he was saying the thought bombardment would stop.”

Chaim wished he hadn’t decided to listen. “What? He’s talking about things more important than climate change, about loving God, and loving neighbors? Yeah, heard that before.” If he was honest, Chaim had to admit that he didn’t really love God. It wasn’t that he hated God or anything like that, he was just kind of neutral. But he had always sought to be kind to his nearby neighbors. Wasn’t that enough?

The first-century-rabbi-person still prattled on and on. In his dream, Chaim saw that his attempts to concentrate were proving to be hopeless. Drowsiness, sleep, and uncharacteristic loud snoring soon followed. The first-century-rabbi-person, ceased talking, and smiled. In his dream, Chaim saw himself… what… dreaming. That first-century-rabbi-person was grinning from ear to ear. That couldn’t be a good sign.

A dream within a dream. There he was, pedaling his bicycle, riding home from work. “Well,” he mused, “Nothing unusual about that. But wait! What’s this? Distracted? Paying zero attention to where I am, what I’m doing, or where I’m going?” Fear and panic enveloped him. Intrinsically, he knew it. Something really, really bad was about to happen…

Look out!

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