For those of you who do not know what "nu" means, it is a Yiddish term which incorporates or expresses an impatience, a tiredness of waiting for something to occur when it should long ago have taken place or at the very least, gotten started. It is a term which carries within centuries old feelings, impatience with delays, a heartfelt desire or wish or hope that the situation will resolve, turn for the better.
Or, it is an acknowledgement that actually nothing much, if at all, has changed despite all wishes otherwise - so, really, what did you expect is contained within that 'nu'. It is a 'nu' which questions the brains of one not already understanding that.
It is a versatile word indeed. A simple 'nu' said with proper intonation and body language is the equivalent, or the better of a long diatribe trying to express the same feelings captured within that 'nu?'
I think one really has to be of the blood born, with generational gene transfer to use that 'nu' correctly, to be able to imply much, very much. So....NU? is a term which has usurped much of my vocal voicings these days. It is an impatient nu when waiting to hear from someone, anyone, to deliver the latest update on Yitzy. It is now so difficult to be able to remember a time when that question and the answer had not become a desperate almost hourly need, a mental and physical ache needing a response. How is he feeling? Are the side effects as bad as we feared? Do the doctors have anything good to say today? What? What? What!!!! All conveyed with and by a heartfelt nu. When will this torment be over, with a beautiful golden boy returned to us, all the better, the stronger, the wiser for this most desperately unwished for ordeal? NU? NU!!
It is that same tiny two letter word which expresses the impatience to see justice done. To see that no one is above the law. That truth and justice will prevail, and a too long delayed comeuppance so richly deserved will finally happen - or at least get the show on the road. Nu already?! Nu??? And so we wait. Indicted yet? Nope, that was him pushing, hyping. Actually, wiser heads are saying it will take place at the earliest by end of week or more likely sometime next week. Okay so nu, I can wait, but nu already. There is only so much patience one can have. Nu?
Finally, there is a desperate nu. What can we expect? Why have we not learned that historical truth? Again and again, yet we continue to tread down that ugly no good ending road, blithely, blindly ignoring the tragedy awaiting us there. Nu already! Time we internalized the historical truth of inevitable consequences and halt this tragedy in the making. Stop it dead in its tracks. Nu, we ask. Nu, we cry. Nu we shout out loud, wondering why we remember always to be that stubborn nation spoken of in the Bible. Yes, stubbornness has enabled us to survive hostile millennia, but stubbornness has also brought us to this existential threat.
Nu already we cry out. The people of Israel have spoken, loud, strong, wanting to retain democracy, a morally valid country, and not turn on itself, and borrow the worst of ideas from surrounding countries. Israel is not meant to be a rigid extreme rightwing country of religious fundamentalism, with women as second class, third class citizens, at major disadvantages as civil law is replaced by religious law as espoused by religious zealots who cannot see past their own noses. Unable to understand or refusing to accept the fact that no state can exist long term with the burden of defense and economic impetus on one segment of society while others coast along, enabled by laws and dictats of an increasingly authoritarian government.
Nu, I, and so many others ask? Why can you not see the truth of this? Are we to destroy yet another Jewish state - via our own faults and stubbornness? Are we to give way to the 'ayrev ra" within our midst? There is room for compromise. There is room to maneuver and find a peshara, a solution. Only if we actually want to. If not, it will remain 'tayku'- unsolvable - and once again the wasteful hatred of brother against brother will prevail and bring down the State of Israel. Again. Have we not suffered enough through our own fault and the eternal carnivorous enmity of others? Perushim vs. Tzedukim. Ten tribes vs. two tribe kingdom. Korach vs Moshe. Rabbinical intransigence in the face of unheard levels of hostility. The Old World vs. the new World. Check your Jewish history.
Nu already seems to have become the small phrase which contains within it the powerful questions and emotions of contentious times.
Nu, already. Will we all never learn?
In the interim, for as long as necessary - remember - please -
Join again in prayers.
Let us use the power of words in a better way.
HEAL THE WORLD.
HEAL YITZY!
Yitzchak Elimelech ben Chana Sarah
May he be granted refuah shelaymah bimheyrah beyameinu.
May he be granted a timely and complete healing.
May Hashem hear all our voices raised in prayer.
Amen. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment