This year, in a somewhat rare convergence of calendars, Ramadan and Lent began on the same day — sacred seasons of prayer and devotion now wounded and scarred by missiles and bombs.
That grave irony has called to mind, for me, an old legend from the Talmud; a tender story the rabbis used to tell about a scene in heaven on the day the children of Israel escaped Egypt through the sea.
As the story goes, when the waters that had parted for the fleeing people of Israel collapsed on the pursuing army of Pharaoh, a group of angels who had been watching the exodus unfold began to sing for joy.
The angels’ victory song was, however, short-lived, because, according to the story, when God overheard the angels’ jubilation over the drowning of the enemy, God rebuked the angels and said, “How can you rejoice when any of my children are suffering?”
Perhaps a harbinger of another story about another rabbi who, when asked by his followers in Luke chapter nine if they should rain down fire and destruction on their enemies, is reported to have rebuked them for even thinking such a terrible thing.
Chuck Poole, Birmingham, Ala.