An Omnipotent god
One

Charles does not remember the first time he learned about god; what he does remember, however, is that the rules were specific, inexorably unchangeable, and very strict. What he does remember being taught about his “god” is it was offered as the forbearer of all monotheistic gods. Although, Charlie was too young to understand what omnipotent meant, what he did know was his god was so exclusive it wasn’t to be offered in any version or variation, nor in any domain, nor in any situation other then in prayer. When mentioned outside the synagogue [aka “Jewish church” in the deep South], the user must never speak its name nor give any description. In conversation, outside of a prayer, Jews were to call their god “Hashem”, which in Hebrew means “the Name.” If it was to be written outside of prayer, Hashem would be written G-d, thereby eliminating its formal use as within the prayer.

Charlie wasn’t a kid that like to go on stage and perform, but as a student of religion, the adults of his synagogue loved to make the kids in their congregation do just that. In addition, Charlie wasn’t at all a lover of foreign languages, he barely was successful in English. Now raise the bar and make Hebrew the language of his prayers, well Charlie found out that he was a rock star at lip syncing. With that background, Charles avoided religious services. “Hey Rabbi, let’s agree that if I come to services you won’t volunteer my participation. I’d just rather sit in the congregation section and be left alone,” Charles had asked and instructed pretty much at the same time. “Nonsense son. We would love to have you join us.” Rabbi decided and offered pretty much at the same time. Needless to say, Charles would thereafter become preoccupied with other more worldly things on Saturday mornings.

Charles, however, did thoroughly respect and admire his father’s love for his heritage, culture, and religion. Besides remembering the beautiful stories Charles’s father would retell his son of his ancestors, his father also had a magnificent voice, as did all his uncles; one uncle became a religious leader of his own congregation. Religion, for both of his parents, was a way of life, a part of their daily existence. The passion that his family had for their prayers was soaked into the living fiber of Charles’s soul. So, it was clear to him, and anyone who knew him, that Charles loved his spiritualism and history, and was immensely proud of who he is, where his family came from, and his religious foundation. But he just couldn’t and wouldn’t sing it. This might have put him into the “card-carrying” category of Judiasm, but that’s okay. He will always enjoy being a Jew and believing in its rituals.

One day, Charles was convinced would happen that when offered the opportunity to enjoy a holiday he didn’t celebrate, he would proudly return the same opportunity for them to also enjoy his holiday that they didn’t celebrate.

Two

Soon after setting up their new home in Lower Topia, Charles and his dog, Jack, knew that Arnold wasn’t doing well, and it was only a matter of days, hours before Arnold would die. Jack really liked Arnold. From his first encounter to now, two years later, Jack has been the happy recipient of a Christmas biscuit each of those years; Jack and Arnold have nutured a special bond.

Jack and Charles were advised, and thus believed, they were going to be out of place in their new neighborhood. As New York Jews crashing the Bible Belt, they received from their well wishers up north, many ominous predictions of social disasters yet to happen . It didn’t help that Jack was 116 pounds of bark and attitude. Mixed with Labrador and Boxer, Jack was hard to miss. To withstand the pressure from the designer dog owners of the Lower Topia dog park, and to help label him respectfully, Charles christened his dog a ‘Loxer’. It was apparently the number one Google search made by the park members that Winter.

Arnold stood at the base of his driveway, almost directly across from Charle’s new home. Beatrice, Arnold’s wife rarely came outside; it was understood her chores are inside. Staring at his new neighbors, Arnold wanted to say hello. Arnold was over 6 feet tall, a slight bend of the shoulders displayed age and illness showing its wear on Arnold’s statue. His voice was confident and proud with a slight touch of western; his attitude was open and friendly. Arnold would become a good neighbor, and Charles was appreciative. At that moment of Arnold’s welcoming outreach, Charles was too preoccupied breaking down the moving boxes to notice his neighbor. But Jack did notice Arnold, and Jack stared back. Jack was off lease. Arnold stood his ground at the base of his driveway, waiting for an introduction. Jack barked several times, in acknowledgement, and began to cross the street. Head submissively down, he approached Arnold with a couple of additional barks, as if to maintain his dominance. Arnold stood quietly. By the time Charles finally reacted to the barks, it was too late. Jack had already reached the apron of Arnold’s driveway, and gave one more bark. “Oh shit Jack!! Sit Jack!!” Charles shouted and hoped, first that Jack would just sit and not growl at Arnold. He guessed his dog probably scared the shit out of Arnold. But also, secondly, Charles hoped that Arnold didn’t hear the “shit” as anything other than the first of two “sits”. It was too late for any corrective action on either, other than pray to G-d nothing goes wrong. Admittedly, Charles should not have allowed Jack to be off leash, even on their driveway with him close by; but bad habits are hard to break. Trying to remember about hindsite’s alternative choices was not paramount, living in their neighborhood for only a week, what was he thinking when he gave Jack free range.

Jack never looked up; rather he focused his stare at Arnold’s feet, while Arnold stood there. Jack, with his head down, rolled in mid air allowing his body to collapse onto Arnold’s driveway while his head landed exactly where he intended it to be; on Arnold’s left foot. Bonded.

Two year pass quickly, and on that morning Jack got up unusually early. Charles gathered the necessary stuff for the usual walk and poop. It was before 7am, and exiting their home, both noticed a car parked on Arnold and Beatrice’s driveway; “their car is always parked in the garage at night,” Charles thought. It made more of an impression to Jack; he couldn’t remove his concentration from that strange car on Arnold’s driveway. A station wagon, one of the few left on the road in 2005. Black, with a placard on the door; Charles couldn’t read what was printed.

Moments later the front door of Arnold’s home opens up to allow a stretcher to exit first, followed closely by a man; the form of a body wrapped in white sheets laid on the gurney, with a man guiding Arnold to the station wagon. This man was drably dressed in a gray uniform; the Coroner, Charles guessed. At home hospice for the past 6 months, Arnold passed after a very long fight with cancer. Jack, as it now was obvious to Charles, had only one mission that morning; to get up and pay his last homage to his friend. Jack sat quietly at the foot of his driveway, while across the street his friend was being loaded into the back of the station wagon. Beatrice didn’t follow Arnold. Jack sat quietly and motionlessly and just watched as the station wagon drove down their Lower Topia street and out of their neighborhood. Jack remained there for several minutes; processing change and inevitability.

Beatrice mourned for the loss of her husband, for most of the days that followed the funeral she spent at home. Visitors came to pay their respect, and offer their support; as did her pastor. Charles was outside when the pastor left the house one day. As the pastor walked to his car, Charles approached and asked how Beatrice was doing. The conversation was focused on the fraility of life, and how suddenly change happens. The pastor paused, reached out his hand, Charles accepted. “Thank you Charles for being there when Beatrice needed help. You are a good neighbor. We all appreciate you.” The pastor said, offering his thank you. They shook hands; the pastor’s free hand cradled Charles’s hand in between his two hands to engage in this offer of sincere appreciation. “It’s good to see you today, Charles. Beatrice tells me you visited and stayed with her. That was nice. Thank you for caring.” The pastor continued to hold Charles’s hand, turning his focus to Jack, who was sitting close by. Jack was paying very close attention to this stranger grabbing his owner’s hand. “And I hear this fellow was Arnold’s friend. Isn’t it wonderful that these creator’s of God’s making can create such strong bonds with humans.” The pastor’s turned his attention back to Charles. “And Charles, may I ask which of God’s churches do you belong to?”

Three

Edythe, Charles’s mother was well versed in tickling G-d’s fancy, always boasted G-d’s favor when good things happen to her and her family; can we say ‘Hallelujah’. But if life threw a curve ball at her, someone cut her off with their car, for example, she would proclaim, in kind, “May G-d rip your back two tires off your car, and you land hard on your ass!!! Charles father, Lester, on the other hand, was far more traditional, pragmatic, and timid in his approach to life; his praise of G-d was performed in daily prayers; honoring the omnipotent deity daily with the ‘Shema’.

Edythe, continuing to sport her connection with G-d by using her own form of spiritualism, wishing something would come true by stating her well practiced incantation “From my mouth to G-d’s ear”; with a slight variation if the premonition was said by someone else, “From your mouth to
G-d’s ear”. Or, if she was short on time, she would just simply say “G-d’s willing”, which allowed her to abbreviate her faith.

Edythe represented a new trend of women in society of the 50’s and 60;s; post wars, and now with a new Asian war brewing, causing young men to dodge nationalism. The ‘stay-at-home-mom’ started leaving the kitchen, entering the workforce to help bring extra income into the badly depleted family coffers caused by a raging recession; their kids learning what it was like to be the first to wear the label ‘Latch-Key’. In conjunction with mothers working full time was the rebirth and evolution of the age old Blue Laws; a religious edict that added an eleventh rule, ‘thou shalt not work on Sunday’. This new source of employable moms, plus society’s disapproval of any activity other then going to church on Sunday, made Saturday a valuable family shopping day. And if your religion also used Saturday to pray to your god, than you would find your congregation at odds with society. Grand openings, graduations, parades and generally any event the public at large would consider valuable entertainment would be performed on your Sabbath. So it was also decided, that Saturday afternoon would be the only day available, to be the day where a mom could treat her blond fair skinned favorite child to lunch and clothes shopping; a day devoted just to this pair. This son wouldn’t be able to join his father in prayer that Saturday, dad would have to solo his devotion. Charlie was okay with that, it would mean one less day of performing.

The plan included a visit to a restaurant that was to become one of Charles’s favorite places to eat, it will also become an icon in his home town; Cookies. “Charles, if you tell your father what we are about to do, I promise from my mouth to G-d’s ear, I will disown you.” His mother needed company on her journey to the other world, where the world of the ‘goyim’, ‘goy’, ‘gentile’, non-jew, would dine in one of a kind self serve restaurant. As an apetizer, Mom walked to the buffet, and would gather a plate filled to overflowing capacity of shrimp; with some shell removal required, which seemed to make his mother all the more giddy with anticipation eating such illegal food. Just plain wrong in Judaism, against all the laws of ‘Kashrut’. It states: ‘there will be no consumption of foods that are not pure, proper, or suitable for consumption’. Charlie sat and stared. He knew what shrimp were, knew of the wrath that would, should follow, and wondered if he was sitting too close to his mother. Will lightning electrify the table between them? And remembered his mother’s warning about being orphaned. How can his mother get away with this act of religious defiance? Not so much about what his father would say, his not omnipotent. Charlie would never snitch. But what about G-d’s wrath? No snitch needed here. G-d is an Omnipotent god. G-d is everywhere, sees all and judges everything.

“What would you like to eat?” his mom asked. “I’m having my favorite, a full plate of shrimp. Not a word Charlie! We are here to enjoy a world we can’t enjoy every day. So tell me what secret would you like to eat?” “Well, I would like to try something my friend brought to lunch last week at school. Looked and smelled delicious. I’d like to have a ham sandwich with American cheese. Mustard with a pickle on the side.” Charlie replied. “Done, sweetie. And I’ll get that awesome looking baked clam dish. Let’s enjoy lunch, than spend the afternoon shopping together.” Edythe finalized the plan, and shared our secret to the waiter. That plate of shrimp was being devoured as he sat in awe. And, when it arrived, he totally enjoyed every bite of his ham and cheese sandwich; he even ordered a glass of milk [his lunch room friend did that; it looked good.]

Nothing. No bolt of lightning, no plagues, no collapsing of the walls of a parted sea. Nothing. Maybe this isn’t the dark side after all. Where will this take him? Charlie was not sure of the answer just yet. But this was definitely fun.

Four

One of Charles’s coolest discoveries was finding his mother’s index card box full of her wonderful receipies. Still trying to decipher the exact meaning of “a pinch” and “to taste”, one of his favorite finds was her receipe for Latkes, a favorite during Chanukah parties. Served with apple sauce [or sour cream or both] the potato pancakes reminded him of the family gatherings in their small Levitt home. Charles and his brother never benefited from 8 days of gifts when Chanukah was celebrated; just one day, the first night of Chanukah, and only because that ritual began after Charles and his brother started public school. Lester found appeasement easier than battling teenagers; a mistake that snowballed over the years. For the most part, however, Lester made it very clear that Chanukah was not in competition with Christmas. “Spell it by its real name, Christmas,” Charles’s dad instructed. “Christmas is not a holiday we object to nor should we compete against. It is their holiday, let them enjoy it. Whether or not Chanukah shared the same calendar day as Christmas, each holiday represented totally different historical events, no one should feel like they are in competition.” “Besides,” his father added, “…on Chanukah we have your mother’s amazing Latkes to look forward to eating. And family to see.”

Charles had used his mother’s Latke receipe for his kids, before and after the divorce; and lately for his goy friends in his new home in Lower Topia. But that practice got him into a major conflict one year.

Lower Topia wasn’t totally void of Jews, Charles calculated that there was probably more Jews living here than up north. Like up north, most of them were living in an upscale neighborhood or in a gated section. He always told vendors that he lived outside the gates of Lower Topia; the hope was to eliminate any surcharge reserved for those endowed with money. Somehow, he always managed to befriend the well-to-do-Jew, and their wanna-be’s; they would become his social acquaintances. This somehow helped his sense of belonging without living on that expensive tab; he wasn’t sure if this association was because they were financial independent or because they were Jewish. One of those families had invited him to their house for Passover, twice in consecutive years. It really wasn’t necessary, he was really okay being alone on these holidays. But how do you say no to an invitation to a religious Jewish event; who would you really be insulting. It was also a way of confirming to his kids that, “…yep I got Passover covered. I’m going to spend it with ‘friends’ [air quotes], Yep, I’m going to their house for the Sedar,” Charles wanted, for some reason, to convey to his children, and a cousin, that he is in good shape religiously. But sadly, Charles wasn’t really sure if he wanted to be a part of someone else’s Sedar; someone who wasn’t family. ‘After all, it is supposed to be a family dinner?’ Charles thought. “Oh right,” Charles confirmed, out loud so he could hear, “this is the dinner where it is required to invite a stranger to the Sedar table.” “Hmmmm,” Charles ‘hmmm’ed’ at that thought and revelation. He continued to think to himself, ‘And, don’t you really need family to make this a religious event. No?’ But, he admitted it would be very lonely by himself. To also admit he had no where to go on that holiday would be like saying, ‘I should have not moved.’ Adding, ‘I should have stayed put and be with his kids during the holidays.’ “But who is kidding whom,” Charles replied to himself. “They wouldn’t have come to my house for the holiday anyway. They have been going to their mother’s home ever since the divorce was finalized. One excuse, planned to soften the fact that he would have been alone for all the holidays anyway [religious or not]; they always went to their mother’s home. “Hey dad, don’t you realize that I live with you. I see you everyday of the year. So I kind of owe it to mom to be with her on the Jewish holidays.” Explanation given. It made sense to his kids, and confirmed his move to Lower Topia.

It was time to set up an event for his friends. “Hey Charles, with Chanukah coming up soon, how would you like to make us a batch of your mom’s potato pancakes?” “What do you call them?” “Latkes,” Charles replied. The friends continued, “I’ll bring the beer, and other stuff to snack on. It’ll be cool. right?” So Charles was going to have a “cool” Chanukah gathering, just like he did with his parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, his kids and wife. Just like the good old days. But, wait. There was no beer and stuff to snack on back than. It was just Latkes and veggies, apple sauce, sour cream. Maybe wine. A bunch of Chanukah songs. And we can’t forget the Dreidel. And family. ‘And, my father would insist on a couple of religious prayers; after all it was a Jewish holiday,’ he thought. Now being planned was to be a gathering of a bunch of people who could care less about the fact that it was a religious holiday; we’ll just have a pig fest on your pancakes, maybe dipped in beer. Nice!!. “A regular Cookies in Lower Topia.” Charles confirmed.

He wasn’t sure if this was an appropriate event to reciprocate with the family that hosted the Passover Sedar. If he did invite them, what would he be inviting them to? So he didn’t. And they found out about the Chanukah party; that they were snubbed. “We would have been your only jewish guest, and you didn’t invite us?” the friend confirmed loudly. Highly insulted, they never extended a Sedar invitation again to Charles. Karma Charles. It is an Omnipotent god for sure.