{"id":36804,"date":"2014-07-17T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=36804"},"modified":"2014-07-17T17:00:23","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T17:00:23","slug":"singles-sanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/singles-sanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Singles and Sanity: The How We Treat Shidduchim Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Rosen is carefully perusing the cereal shelves in her local supermarket.<\/strong> Bran flakes versus life cereal? These little routines help her take her mind off the difficult period her and her husband are going through. They have been trying to have kids for three years, and unfortunately God has not yet blessed them with a child. It\u2019s especially hard for her being in a community with so many young couples who have already been blessed with several children. While examining the different nutritional facts on the cereal box she is granted momentary respite from her otherwise anxiety ridden concerns. Until she is interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cRebecca? Hi How are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The voice is of a friend from college, though in recent years the two have drifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u2026.How\u2019s Life?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca smiles, \u201cIts great, thank God, I\u2019m finishing up school at Hunter and my Husband has been working at KPMG.\u201d Rebecca knows this is not the answer her friend was looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut\u2026.(empathetic pause)\u2026.How\u2019s everything else?\u201d<\/p>\n

Its becoming more and more difficult for Rebbeca to continue smiling. \u201cGood, Really Good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you and Josh have been having trouble having kids.\u201d Rebecca\u2019s stomach knots up. She knew the conversation was going there. She\u2019s unsure what bothers her more, the distant friend asking her a too-personal question or the indiscreet location for a conversation that should warrant an intimate living room rather than a supermarket aisle. As her friend continues, Rebecca just continues to hold a smile and nod through the barrage of questions and unsolicited consolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must be so hard\u2026 Are you really trying? \u2026 Do you or your husband have issues? \u2026 I know a Rabbi who \u2026 Anyways, Have a great day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca smiles. Now comes the hardest part. Rebecca turns to her friend who eagerly awaits her response to the sagely advice just dispensed; Rebecca mumbles, \u201cThanks so much, you too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boruch is a father of four with a wonderful wife.<\/strong> Life had always been going well for him, but recently he has been laid off and now has mounting debt. He\u2019s been out of work for close to a year now and the longer he remains unemployed the more hopeless he becomes of ever finding a descent job. A close friend of his, Simcha, just made partner in a top ten firm. Honestly, Boruch is happy for his close friend, but the prominence of Simcha\u2019s promotion makes Boruch\u2019s unemployment all the more ubiquitous. The coming Shabbos Simcha is making a small Kiddush in shul to celebrate his promotion. Boruch is nervous but is determined to go to the Kiddush to celebrate with his close friend.<\/p>\n

At the Kiddush Boruch has an unsettling feeling, as if people are thinking \u201coh wow I can\u2019t belive he came, this must be so hard for him.\u201d The truth is, they were right. It was hard. After giving Simcha a hug and a mazel tov Boruch turns around to leave. Hoping just to leave quietly back to his own family he is stopped by several people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIm, yirtzeh Hashem by you\u2026. Im yirtzeh Hashem by you\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

He feels as though a consolation firing squad has selected him for execution. An older friend takes him to the side for a little longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoruch, you should know this whole situation you\u2019re in is really a bracha. Don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frustrated by his friend\u2019s insensitivity he looks up at him and mutters, \u201cIm yirtzeh Hashem by you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following daveneing Shabbos morning<\/strong>, Yoni is sitting towards in his usual seat listening to the announcements. The gabbai, a humorous and jovial man, after finishing with the Shabbos schedule begins with the different mazel tovs of the members of the shul. Yoni has begun to dread this part. Though he has only been married for two years, he and his wife have not yet been blessed with a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cMazel Tov to the Berkowitz family on the birth of a baby girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some members in the back call out, \u201cKiddush L\u2019chaim!\u201d Yoni chuckles, though it can be hard, he is happy for Berkowitz family. The constant jibes, however, from his friends and members of his shul have made it increasingly more difficult to truly be happy; but he\u2019s trying. As the gabbai\u2019s list of simchas occurring throughout the community is underway, the comments inevitably begin.<\/p>\n

A friend at Yoni\u2019s table turns to him, \u201cso nu, Yoni, what are you waiting for?\u201d Yoni\u2019s chuckle fades to a strained smile. \u201cYep, we\u2019re trying,\u201d he responds. Another member, sitting in the table directly in front of him, turns and calls to Yoni, \u201cWe\u2019re all waiting to hear your simchas! B\u2019karov!\u201d Yoni nods, feigning a sense of agreement. He knows his friends and neighbors mean well, but he\u2019d wish the focus of other people\u2019s simchas did not constantly shift to his own tzaros. He is happy to know that everyone is waiting for his simchas, he just wishes they would wait with a little less noise and a bit more poise.<\/p>\n

I know what you are thinking.<\/strong> The comparisons are not fair. Frankly, I agree with you. Singles have a very different struggle than couples trying to have children. And the struggle to have children is surely quite different than the effort to find a job. The point of this essay is not to illustrate an equivalency between life\u2019s vast array of obstacles, but rather to encourage equal thought and sensitivity when approaching anybody\u2019s difficulties in life. The moment we begin engaging in the game of \u201cwho really has it worse,\u201d we have obfuscated our responsibility to view each individual\u2019s problem as deeply unique and personal. Leave it to God to award the prize for \u201cwho had it worst,\u201d in the meantime we can try to make it better.<\/p>\n

Everyone has set-backs in life. <\/strong>Different people have different starts and journeys during their productive and successful lives. Some get laid off, some struggle with having children, others take longer getting married. Each deserves sensitivity, privacy, and decency. These can be obtained with a healthy dose of common sense and a brief period of thought before actually speaking.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be so quick to assume that it is the single\u2019s fault for their predicament. The same way some people try but cannot have kids, some people try but are unable to find a suitable partner. Some people happily marry later in life, and the only thing which stopped them from finding a partner sooner was Mazel, not a personality\/commitment\/pathological disorder. Trust me.<\/p>\n

Make sure your words of encouragement were solicited (explicitly or implicitly) and try not to constantly gravitate in conversation to the set-back that your friend\/acquaintance\/person-you-met-in-the-supermarket is experiencing. Despite what you may think, sometimes they don\u2019t want to talk about it. Don\u2019t say it\u2019s a bracha to someone unless you\u2019d really wish it upon yourself. When you\u2019re a good friend to others they will be there in your times of difficulty. Im yirtzeh Hashem by you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Rosen is carefully perusing the cereal shelves in her local supermarket. Bran flakes versus life cereal? These little routines help her take her mind off the difficult period her and her husband are going through. 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