Dear Friend, Neighbor, and Coworker

Dear Friend, Neighbor, and Coworker,

I recently lost my father. After battling coronavirus for a few months, his body lost the fight. Those months while he was in the hospital were filled with your support. You texted, called, and emailed, asking for my father’s full name and telling me the mitzvos you took on as a zechus for his recovery. You sent gifts and dinners when visits weren’t allowed, and you constantly asked how we were coping in those trying times.

Then he passed away. Shivah was a blur of (socially distanced) visits and calls. You listened to me as I told stories about my father, and you shared what you knew about him. I felt blessed to have friends and family who cared so much, and I knew that although there would be tough moments ahead, your support would help me get through them.

Then shivah was over. These days, when we meet, you greet me cautiously, but you don’t mention the loss. You call and text, like you did in the olden days before the world turned upside down, but you talk about mundane topics, when all that’s on my mind is my father and how he’s not here to share those mundane moments with me anymore.

Some of you ask how my mother is doing, but that’s the closest you allow yourselves to get to the topic that’s at the forefront of both of our minds.