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06.14.2007 - Question #3: What is G-d to You?? (By Kate Moira Ryan) Judy and I are both women of faith, so it didn't surprise us when most of the women professed some belief in the idea of G-d. And yet, all who did professed G-d to be more of a presence than an actual being. Some of them said, "He is everything." "He is the great prime number." "He is someone I talk to." Only one woman (Orthodox, lawyer) said that she was angry at G-d. She had good reason to be; she had lost her son to AIDS. She said to us very candidly, "I am angry at HIM, G-d, that is. That was a good son he took from me, but that's okay because this is my house and I'm allowed to be angry. Because G-d may live here, but he doesn't pay the rent." The subject of who G-d is came up recently for me at my twentieth college reunion. I went to Trinity, a Catholic women's college in Washington, D.C., run by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The first thing I did when I arrived was to find my old mentor and English professor Sister Margaret Claydon. Known for her sharp wit and searing grading, she had taught me to love an obscure poet named Gerard Manley Hopkins, to serve with some topspin, and to write a complete sentence -- which still to this day I find challenging. When I handed her the book she got that old glint in her eye. I knew I had made her happy. "Katie, I am so excited to read this. I am so sorry to have missed the show." Now, Sister Margaret has taught generations of Trinity women, including one of our more illustrious alumnae Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi, so she is on the older side and I really didn't think she'd be able to make it off-Broadway. However, I was delighted to tell her that the play was going on a yearlong tour and she would be able to see it in D.C. at Theatre J. Sister Margaret paged to end of the book where all the questions were and she came to the one that said, "What is G-d to you?" And I told her about the Orthodox woman and the loss of her son to AIDS. In a sad but resigned voice, Sister Margaret told me about a similar loss in her own family. The irony was not lost on me. Who would have thought that a Catholic nun would have something in common with an Orthodox Jewish woman? And yet, in some ways it proves my point that you don't have to be Jewish to read this book, or even a mother for that matter. Judy and I always say, "Every woman has a story. It doesn't matter if you are Catholic or Jewish. The only thing that matters is that it's told." In the back of 25 QUESTIONS FOR A JEWISH MOTHER is a list of all twenty-five questions. We encourage you to ask your grandmother or mother all of them. And when you get to the one, "What is G-d to you?," take the time and really listen. The answer might surprise you.
Click these links to read questions from previous weeks: You may also read the entire 25 Questions blog at www.huffingtonpost.com. |
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