Alberto's Voice

Welcome to My World...

...and to my “online home,” where I will be assessing, analyzing, appreciating and articulating this life spent on a tightrope between opera/stage/pulpit… navigating Western/Eastern music… enjoying and pondering travel/food/theology/family/conductors/directors/Rabbis... and reflecting on what a little (!) Jewish Greek boy has learned through it all…

For general information about appearances, recordings, media packet, etc. visit http://www.albertomizrahi.com 

Aging At Turbo Speed

I flew to Athens, Greece with the specific intention of visiting my 95 year old aunt (my mother's sister), Hara, who had been moved into an assisted living facility (in this case more of a nursing home). Fond memories of my early childhood are crammed with hugs, kisses, meals (because her food always tasted better to the 5-6 year old Albertiko) and sharing an L-shaped house with her, my uncle Avraam and their daughter, Anna (who is more like my sister rather than a cousin). I would spend four days, seeing her, each one, and return home for Shabbat.

The trip came off like clockwork (well, at least to this point which is me waiting at the Athens airport at 4AM for my 6:35 plane) except for a small hitch or three. It seems that the aging process is more predictable that I ever thought. Instead of visiting one aunt, I found another very dear aunt was in almost the same position (at approximately the same age). Her cousin (another aunt of mine in her late 70's) had just gone through serious surgery and was recuperating at home. Finally, the day I got there, one of my very close relatives got serious news from her doctor and will be going through surgery within a week or so.  As I drove all over the Attiki peninsula visiting each of them (although I kept my personal pledge and saw Aunt Hara every day) it felt as if I should don whites and surgical gloves. Does everyone become ill in their later years? I guess if I had done my research I would probably find out that the answer is yes, for the most part.

I have numerous friends that enjoyed their winter years in places like Palm Springs and Jupiter, FL that played golf until shortly before they could no longer do so. They are surrounded by some of the best hospitals in the world and an entire economy based on their recreational and medical needs. Greeks live in one of the sunniest places in the world. Although winter is no picnic they do not tend to spend their dotage away from home. Islands and other countries are for visiting. One's home is where one lives out one's life. The difficulty of a culture in which almost everyone has a family home that is passed down to children or other relatives, whether a one room cottage in a village or a beautiful mansion in a swanky suburb, is that, when illness hits and brings special needs, one tries to stay in one's home as long as possible. This is true both for Greeks who can afford Western-world luxuries like part or full-time help. and for those of modest means. Moving into a nursing home is an enormous shock. Having family visit, bring flowers, a picture or two, is a balm to the soul.

This very necessary visit (in what is most definitely the ebbing of a specific era in my family's life) clearly demonstrated to me that "bikur cholim" can be therapeutic for both the giver and receiver;  that one cannot take one's own health for granted; that a supportive family can be more therapeutic than doctor visits; that we must all go the extra mile to show respect and love toward the people that were the center of our lives in our formative years; and that a few roses can make your 95 year old aunt smile as when she was in the bloom of youth. Don't put it off if you can do it now.

FAITH ON WINGS OF EAGLES

Emunah Al Kanfei N'sharim

The airplane today is a marvel of science. Yet, aerodynamics play little role in the trust most of us place in entering the behemoth knowing that we will almost certainly reach our destination, whether it be Cleveland or Bruxelles. As I fly over the Atlantic, I believe it is a more compelling trust; our faith in God. I remember reading in the Jewish Catalogue (a much more reliable compendium than Wikipedia, say) that man asks, "Why do I need to pray? I have all I need..." The answer given is simplistic and profound. We should pray so that when we need to, we will know how. The same reason can be given for study.

In trying to make sense of our role in the ongoing saga of human history, our sages have long toiled on establishing our relationship with God. The Orthodox Jew speaks about "Torah Moshe miSinai" and that relationship is based on the faith that the Torah is God given and there can be no question about who God is. The Torah tells us, exactly. But, since the Haskalah (Enlightenment) period, the study of Biblical literary criticism has raised many unanswered questions and put "modern man" in a quandry. Weekly, we hear why one must have faith; often coming from different sources with new paths toward that faith. We must all find our own way through continued study of Torah and its myriad commentaries, joyfull and reflective prayer, and the leadership of so many brilliant minds that have dedicated themselves to philosophic discourse and a combining of our ancient and modern texts in continuing our path to faith. Find an adult education course and open yourself to so much more than the mundane "vochedik" (weekday/common) thoughts that hardly tax our miraculous brains.

You may find it easier to fly accross the pond.