A Goat, a Bulldozer, and a Few Matzah Crumbs

I stopped by the house on the way home from work a couple of days ago. There was a big bulldozer on the property, chugging loudly and spewing exhaust as it cleared the area for our new driveway. My neighbor Sarah was outside, and I stopped to say hi, sheepishly apologizing for the noise. In our 1950s era neighborhood, the houses are built very close to each other, and so our neighbors have gotten a lot more exposure to our construction than they would probably prefer. Sarah responded cheerfully "it's okay. When the noise stops, it's SO great." She really said this. With neighbors like that, is it any wonder that we didn't want to leave?

It reminded me of a well-known Jewish story about a man who is fed up with his life. He goes to his rabbi in the village and complains bitterly about living in his tiny house with unruly children, complaining wife, in-laws, and a passel of other unpleasant relatives. He wails that with their constant fighting and bickering, he cannot stand his life one minute longer.

The rabbi thinks for a moment, and says "Try this: bring your farm animals into the house to live with you." The man is puzzled, but does as the rabbi says. The next week he comes back and says "It's not working. Everything is ten times worse- no one has any room to sit down, there's cow poop everywhere, and the noise and smell is unbearable."

Rabbi: "Did you remember the goat?"

Man: "Huh?"

Rabbi: "Don't forget to bring in the goat. And the chickens too."

The man is understandably skeptical, but reluctantly goes home and does as he is told.

He returns in a few days. "Are you INSANE? Not only is there no room to sit down, no one can even stand UP with all these animals, chickens squawk all the time, and the goat... that f**ing goat is constantly butting my children, smashing all the dishes and eating everything in sight. No one has any peace! This is a hundred times worse than before. "

The rabbi thinks for a moment, then says, "All right then. Maybe this was not such a hot idea after all. Put all your animals back outside."

What happens next is not hard to guess. The man returns later, all smiles, gushing about his fabulously transformed home, so spacious, clean and fresh, and full of happy people who all get along with each other. The moral of the story... things could always be worse.

The festival of Passover started last Friday, and like many Jewish families around the world, we are commemorating it in part by not eating leavened products- breads, cakes, cereals- substituting mostly with matzah, a woefully inadequate alternative, that, to add insult to injury, can't be eaten without creating piles of crumbs throughout the house. After eight days of matzah, that morning bagel never tasted so good.

There is nothing like losing something, be it peace and quiet, space, or a favorite food, to make you appreciate it when it returns.

It occurred to me that we could have avoided a lot of hassle and expense by simply setting up a temporary petting zoo in our living room. Even so, I have no doubt that when this project is finished, we will appreciate so many things that we took for granted- our understanding neighbors, wonderful neighborhood, newness and space of our soon-to-be finished (fingers crossed) home, the security of not having to move and the opportunity to settle in and relax. Maybe we'll even get a goat.