A Torch from the Darkest Place 

Photos: Flash90, Ezra Trabelsi, Kretchnif archives
Illustration: Menachem Weinreb

At a writer’s seminar I once attended, the lecturer cautioned against falling down a rabbit hole and losing focus of the article.

“The reader doesn’t want to watch you play connect the dots,” the lecturer said as he emphasized the word “doesn’t.”

But this story is a rabbit hole that I have yet to emerge from, a sacred and sublime path inspired by a text message that I got from one person, then another, and then ten more, following the publication of some easily-skipped words in an obscure sefer.