“‘Al tadin es chavercha’came to mind when reading Aliza Radin’s beautiful piece”
I was very moved by Esther Rivkis’s article “At the Border,” about living between hope and despair when waiting for a shidduch. I myself lived “at the border” for over ten years and know very well the ups and downs she is describing.
I was particularly affected by her description of buying a baby outfit before it’s needed, as I did something similar. I’d been in shidduchim a few years when I found myself at the “Off 5th” Saks Fifth Avenue outlet store with a married friend, and we saw a rack of gorgeous European white-knit baby outfits. Upon closer inspection, I saw that these were boys’ outfits, meticulously tailored with tiny buttons and a white satin ribbon running through them. I told my friend that this would make a perfect bris outfit. “Buy it!” she exclaimed. But I was too embarrassed and thought maybe it was a little strange.
This didn’t stop me, however, from returning to the store the next day alone and looking at the outfits again. I decided to buy one, but then I saw that there were two different newborn sizes. I bought both.
Almost ten years after this, I did get married, baruch Hashem, and we had our first child, a girl, almost three years later. Eighteen months after that, our first son was born. Thankfully, I’d wrapped up the outfits very well in my own storage container, and they were in perfect condition when I took one of them out to use for the bris.
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