Dear reader, your proud columnist has been humbled
BE comforted in the assurance that the column will once again surface next week, G-d willing.
May I be frank with you? I was fearful of a strong reaction when word spread that the column was missing. Mishpacha, after all, has about 150,000 subscribers, according to reliable estimates, and is read by over 200,000 people. Do the math: Even if only ten percent of the readers of Second Thoughts were to demand to know why it was missing, that would still amount to quite a potent 15,000–20,000 angry readers. And even if only one single percent were to express their annoyance, that would still be over 1,000 strong.
Based on what my readers have been telling me for years — that Second Thoughts is the first item they turn to; that they wait for it breathlessly every other week; that it brightens up their Shabbos experience — I began to feel that with all this fulsome admiration, who knows, could the Pulitzer be far behind? After all, those intelligent and perceptive folks who admire the column couldn’t all be wrong.
My fantasy went into overdrive, and soon enough I became apprehensive that 1,000 of my readers would pound on the doors of Mishpacha and demand an explanation; that they would threaten mass subscription cancellations; that they would hold mass rallies and demand public apologies. In my fantasy I tried to reason with the angry crowds and urge them to remain calm, but despite my pleas, they would not be still. I was very touched by such loyalty.
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