Eye for an Eye

One day, when I was in my early 20s and teaching Torah to religious newbies in Jerusalem, I felt the bedrock of belief shudder beneath me.

There’s a reason the sages wrote that the air of Jerusalem makes one wise. I could feel the vibe everywhere. I loved how a cosmetician might share a Torah thought while giving me a facial, or how a plumber would pick apart some verse in the Torah while he unclogged my sink. Entire communities were high on Torah and performing chesed, acts of kindness. I couldn’t walk more than 10 feet without bumping into a scholar or a tzaddik, a righteous person. Naturally I wanted to marry a talmudist and create a home imbued with holiness, and so I went on innumerable blind dates with that purpose in mind. Nothing worked out on that score, though.