Entry Twenty-Five: Jeremiah 31:16-20
Eight days after Miriam left us for the bosom of Abraham, we took Benjamin to be circumcised…the sign of our covenant with God…the sign that we and our children belong to God and to His people. Strictly speaking, it was my traditional duty to circumcise him, but I did not trust my hand that day. Aaron and I took him in the early morning…the dew was still wet on the ground. Elizabeth was with us…someone…I forget who…had recommended her as a nursemaid. She stayed on, long after Benjamin had been weaned. She is more family than housemaid to me.
Miriam’s brother served as godfather. I have not seen him since Benjamin left. Does he think of his godson too? As Miriam was not present, I placed Benjamin into his arms myself. I remember his eyes…always moist…yet at different points of the ceremony, overflowing…deep pools of love spilling over and washing his tiny head…a covering of love. There was a pause in the prayer before the rabbi spoke his name for the first time. Miriam had chosen the name as she breathed out her last breath…like, yet unlike, Rachel.[i]
The celebratory meal was difficult…mealtimes always reminded me of Miriam…for years after, a well-prepared meal could bring me to tears. Many things brought me to tears then…as they do now for Benjamin…they are just different things for Miriam and different things for Benjamin.
The law tells us that the uncircumcised male is to be considered cut off from his people…and so we believed…but Benjamin’s own people have cut him off anyway. They say he is uncircumcised of heart.[ii] But a knife has cut off a piece of my heart…then I am doubly circumcised…for me and for him. If a ram could serve as a substitute for Isaac, surely, I can be a substitute for Benjamin.[iii] Israel returned to the Lord, will Benjamin not be allowed to return?
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