Becoming Ordinary

What is a Jew? A Jew is someone who argues with God whether he believes in Him or not.

The war was over long ago, but the Holocaust still lived in his family. It was the subtext of his life, the trauma that held him captive. His father the poet's song about his birth haunted him from early on. He was named Menachem, consolation . . .

Above the peaks low clouds unfurl

Somber, gray, they spread

Like faces from my far-off land

Their call rings out unsaid:

Bring forth new life, they clamor -

To replace six million dead.

How could he move on? Yet he knew he had to.