Exodus 3-4 brings us the negotiation between God and Moshe, in which Moshe ultimately discovers that he has no choice but to lead. Moshe is famously reluctant to take on this role. More than just protesting on the basis of "heavy of speech," Moshe rebuffs God's continued insistence that he rise to the occasion and lead God's People out of Egypt. SIX times....

"It’s unnatural for parents to bury their child.”  I’ve heard over and over.  People have said it to me, as if they think it’s comforting. (It’s not.) I’ve heard it said by well-meaning clergy at funerals.  There are  bereaved parents who say this, for whom it is comforting. If it comes from them , that’s the exception. In the same way you (the outsider, not the parent) should not impose your theology on a bereaved parent’s experience, so too this is one thing you should not say to them...

I wrote this piece in 2023, during a writing seminar on Writing Through Loss and Trauma with David Kessler and Andrea Cagan. The prompt was, "Imagine a conversation with your grief." Today, the 6th anniversary of Ronen's death on the Gregorian calendar, and as an introduction with more of my writing to come in the next weeks and months, feels like the right time to share it. I still feel his presence dancing in the shadows.