Thursday Oct 9

Yosale is a little better today
and gradually improving
Received 2 letters from home

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Matt's Notes

Back in May, in one of the more dramatic episodes in Papa's year thus far, Papa received notice of his beloved father's death just hours after his nephew Yosele was born. I've always wondered if this confluence of events, along with the fact that Yosele was named a variation of "Joseph" after Papa's father, made Papa especially attached to Yosele.

For example, the first thing Papa did yesterday after Yom Kippur services ended was call a doctor for Yosele, who'd been sick for a while. Is it possible, as we discussed yesterday, that having spent the day fasting, praying and mourning his father, Papa felt overly concerned for Yosele and called a doctor when it might not have been entirely necessary? Could it be that Yosele's not really any better today at all, but, with Yom Kippur over, Papa's perspective on Yosele's condition is a little less exaggerated?

In that vein, I imagine Papa's Yom Kippur prayers, so focused on his father, also made him think at length about his childhood, and the childhood home he missed so much. If that was the case, the two letters he received from the old country on this day must have felt especially welcome, as if, perhaps, a higher authority than the U.S. Postal Service had a hand in their arrival.