A meeting of the minds

The three remained deep in thought for a few minutes. Rabbi Kaufman stood up and walked to the window of his office. The almond trees that give shade to the back door of the temple were filled with almonds that had not been collected yet. He made a mental note to tell his wife about it. He went back to his seat.

“I actually thought I was going to have to lecture you about some Biblical concepts today, Maya. I think God humbled me today. I am aware that this is not Torah word by word, that this is an interpretation designed to bring Gideon and especially God to little people, and I must confess, I was ready to be very, very harsh. Not because I do not appreciate you or because I don’t believe in your work, who am I to intervene in God’s affairs? But because I think in our line of work” he pointed at Father Thomas now, “we deal with a lot of nonsense and a lot of watered down believers that are always ever so willing to drag God down to their level, to belittle His greatness to fit their own flawed existence” he paused. “Your previous stories were perhaps more generic if you will, less serious, less...what is the word…”

“Less biblically accurate”, interjected Father Thomas, “more poetic, more childish in their essence, in order to be more accessible to children”

“Yes, exactly. They are marvelous little works of art, don’t misunderstand me”

“Exactly”, said Father Thomas.

“The star of Bethlehem, for example, as an alive entity, looking at Jesus”, he said, “the writing is so beautiful...but it is not written by our ancestors in that way. When the sages, or the wise men”, he looked at Father Thomas now, “followed the Star, they were in no way following a sparkly, cute little thing that was looking after Jesus. Or at least that was not the way it had been prophesied, and it is not the way it was written”

She nodded.

“You gave that star a life of its own and a connection to Jesus that quite possibly we all should have seen in the same way”, he said, smiling. “Children do need and do appreciate such delicacy in their stories. The reason why I am sitting here today, reviewing this book with you, bouncing off ideas, is because of those little people. I most definitely understand the importance of your ministry”

Maya moved in her seat. “My ministry?”, she thought. She had not thought about it in those terms. The words rained on her like a miracle and she could no longer hear what Rabbi Kaufman was saying. All these years she had hoped God was pleased, she had hoped she was not wasting away her purpose, she had hoped she did not misunderstand her calling. She knew this was at the root of her doubts just weeks ago. Doubt is always brought in by fear to the party, they are inseparable. She had been afraid of not being a good enough writer for quite some time and before she knew it, doubt came knocking on her door, calling her mediocre, calling her unable, calling her a fraud. She realized, this was indeed her ministry.

“Maya, did you hear me?”, Rabbi Kaufman was staring at her.

“Oh, yes, I am sorry. What were you saying?”

“This story comes with the weight of an assignment. This story is now accessible to kids, and Biblically inspired. And I like it”, the Rabbi said. “I had forgotten that God is present in the little things too, Maya. You have reminded me of that. Here I was, with all of my accolades, and all of my important degrees and my temple, looking down on a young, brave woman such as yourself, because I thought it was not possible that you could bring Gideon to life in any capacity, because I am the scholar and you are a mere believer”

Maya’s eyes widened. Father Thomas coughed.

“Yes, my friends, I apologize for my arrogance”

The Rabbi was visibly affected by the words he was saying.

“Rabbi”, said Father Thomas, ”His grace is sufficient, old friend. We know you are almost perfect, and we still love you”

“Yes we do”, said Maya with a smile on her lips.

They laughed together again.

“I honestly don’t even know what I am doing here”, Father Thomas said, “I am as mundane as the next person. I think maybe we viewed this whole thing wrong from the start. Yes, it is important to be Biblically sound when writing such an important story. But ultimately, I think this is up to the writer and to her, your”, he added, looking at Maya, “relationship with God. I personally don’t want to be one of those men of God that walk around telling Jesus He is a liar. I want to be able to recognize the divine in every encounter. There is truth in every story and Gideon’s is extraordinarily powerful, and it hits different levels of consciousness in different hearts. I think it should be allowed to be told in the way the writer sees fit, as long as no lies are told and the power of God and His presence are properly accounted for”

Maya’s eyes filled with tears.

“You made her cry”, said Rabbi Kaufman. “Maya, this is your book. We support you. We definitely support God. Now, let’s talk about how you have portrayed the two men of God, young lady”, he said, pointing at the draft he was still holding in his hand.

The three burst into laughter and spent the next hour enjoying each other’s company, and laughing at Rabbi Kaufman’s ideas about how the two men should be portrayed in the book, while God’s presence invaded the room and sat by their side, loving His children.

Excerpt from "Chapter 12, A meeting of the minds" ©, included in "Maya Writes Her Book",

Published September 12th 2020 and available on Paperback and Kindle through Amazon.com