Oh Bibas family!
Oh Bibas family!
Oh Bibas family!
As I sit
and meditate
I’ve concluded
that nothing
is worse
than
God’s work
unfinished.
Lives ended
too soon
almost before
they began.
I think of my babies.
I sat next to
the Bibas family
just yesterday
on the plane.
Their baby (Kfir)
cried for milk.
The older boy (Ariel)
played on his iPad.
The father (Yarden)
watched a show
on his iPhone.
The mother (Shiri)
was tired
but tossed the baby
hushed the baby
hugged her baby.
Oh Bibas family!
I sat next to you
just the other day
in the bakery.
The little one
was in a high chair
picking up Cheerios
off the table.
The 3-year-old
unwrapped his muffin
and gave his mother
three solid minutes
to enjoy her coffee.
Oh Bibas family!
I saw you through the window.
The mother nursed
her baby
and I could sense
when the baby fell asleep
in his mother’s arms,
the mother would have given
anything
for thirty minutes
to herself
and she would have given
anything
to hold her baby
one more minute.
Oh Bibas family!
We are you.
I am the mother
longing for me time
longing to hold the baby
one more minute
indulging in a quiet
three-minute coffee
consumed by beautiful children
with their lives ahead of them:
Matching family pajamas
soccer games
first day of school
beach vacation
learning to ride a bike
family dinners (shabbat)
scoops of ice cream
cheerios off the table
plane rides
with a crying baby
monograms
heirloom portraits
going up the staircase
another hot coffee
at the cafe table
answers to questions like:
“Mom
When you get to the edge of the ocean
do you fall off
the edge of the world?”
watching the baby
sleep in her arms
thinking
“it’s a season”
and there will be a day
when they don’t want
to be held anymore.
(Not my children.)
Movie nights
on a makeshift bed
on the basement floor
with opened snacks
despite mom’s niggling requests
“please eat at the table!”
and
“No snacks after dinner!”
and
“Stay in bed!
If you get out of bed
this time
there will
be consequences.”
(Is this just me?)
Begging for sleep.
Begging for more time
with the children
Begging for help
Begging for a date night
or one week
where
no one has a cough
or a cold
or green slime
dripping from a nose.
All erased.
…
In the moment
it doesn’t seem
like much
but
it’s everything.
I sit over my lunch
next to my daughter
and wonder
how do you
have hunger
to eat
when you look over
at your baby
with a green bean
in her mouth
and she looks at you
with piercing blue eyes
and you think
it could have been her.
…
Oh Bibas family!
We are all you.
You live in every one of us.
I see you everywhere I go.
And I can’t help but think
there’s nothing worse
than the premature loss
of God’s work.
…
I’m processing…
and I hope time
will dull the pain
and yet
I don’t want to forget.
Kfir Bibas
Ariel Bibas
Shiri Bibas
…
G-d
give comfort
to the Bibas family.
G-d
protect this family.
Let them feel
our enduring love
from their first day
to their last.
I will not give up hope.
If fate may have it
and they are with you now
(Kfir and Ariel confirmed)
in a world without pain
or sin
Let the children sit
on your bouncing knee
and prepare a bed
with the finest linens
for Shiri
to rest
with her children.
Give them a kitchen
to bake cookies together.
Give them a beach
with a warm sea
to splash in.
Give them a soccer field
a playground
give them all the things
I take for granted
and even confess
my dislike for (playgrounds, mostly).
…
There must be a Heaven
Where else
would G-d’s work go?
Oh Bibas family!
We are all you.
You’re everywhere
and you’re gone.
Please know how much this means to me as I have waited in the tunnels this entire time for their safe return and my tears have so few places left to go.
BEAUTIFUL. Thank you