“Beautiful” Seems Like a Strange Way to Describe It, But ...

“Beautiful” Seems Like a Strange Way to Describe It, But ...

It was.

My teacher Yonina’s funeral took place today at Kibbutz Einat, just outside Rosh ha-Ayin. The cemetery is special in two respects: it allows secular burials and has a great deal of greenery.

A Reform rabbi officiated. He had never met Yonina, but did a wonderful job. The ceremony was a mixture of secular and religious, both in its character and those who attended. I think there were more than a hundred people there. At the request of Yonina’s daughter, I sang “I’ll Fly Away,” a song Yonina loved and that she sang with the Kossoy Sisters decades ago.

I still haven’t internalized the fact that Yonina is gone. I suppose it will take some time for it to sink in.

In the meantime, I just deleted Yonina’s listing from my instant messaging contacts list. I didn’t really want to, but it hurt too much to see her name there and realize that I can no longer type How are you doing? and watch her answer pop up a few seconds later in the rainbow text she liked.

I’m saving her e-mails, though.

Do they have instant messaging and e-mail in the next world?