My parents' house - the home that I grew up in - went up in flames last week. On the bright side, no one was in it at the time of the fire, and the major damage was confined to the back of the house. But still, it came out of nowhere, while my parents were out of town and was apparently caused by some wires in a jacuzzi that had been off and out of use for over five years.
In the decade plus that I've been involved in Jewish outreach and education, I've had people comment to me again and again that the problem with spiritual concepts like God, souls, and the afterlife is that we can't be sure that they actually exist as they are intangible and unprovable. Things in the physical realm, these people would argue, are here and now - touchable and knowable.
But how real is the material world anyways? All of the possessions we acquire, from the moment we buy them new, immediately start to wither away until they need to be repaired or replaced. And most of the wealth that people have, that to a large extent dictates how secure they feel in life, is nothing more than numbers on a piece of paper. And as we've seen with the stock market's volatility in the last few weeks - numbers on paper don't mean very much as people's investments and financial futures have gone from decimated to recovered only to be decimated again. Even the richest, haughtiest person out there has been shown in recent weeks that there is no safe place for his money these days - no place that he can guarantee its security.
Ironically, my parents' house caught on fire right after the holiday of Sukkot ended - a holiday where we spend a week hanging out in a hut called a Sukkah, in order to remind us that our big, strong, stable homes might not be as permanent and stable as we like to believe they are. Sukkot teaches us that ultimately our lives are no more stable than a shaky hut, blowing in the wind, because the only true stability out there is that which is provided by the Almighty. Whatever security we might perceive there to be in the physical world is, itself, the illusion.
I’m sorry that your parents lost their house and that you lost an important part of your childhood. I hope they are able to rebuild quickly.
Posted by Rebecca on October 28, 2008 at 11:35 pm
So the good news is that the house didn’t burn to the ground (although it won’t be inhabitable for a while) and I don’t think too much sentimental stuff was lost either. But it was certainly shocking to receive a call from my parents last week that the house was up in flames and the firemen were there knocking down doors and windows!
Posted by Allison on October 29, 2008 at 12:20 am
That is definitely frightening. I’m glad that no one was hurt, though.
Posted by Josie on October 29, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m sorry your parents are without their home for the time being, but thankful no one was hurt.
If you guys need anything, please let me know.
Posted by Allie on October 31, 2008 at 5:31 am