If Sleeping Beauty were Jewish

Sleeping Beauty was Jewish in a non-Jewish world. It was just over a week before Pesach. She had a thousand and one deadlines from the world outside, partly because April is a busy time of the year in the non-Jewish world and partly because if she didn't clear the decks then crucial things would fall into the mire while she commemorated Exodus.

She was tired of being exotic. Tired of being Jewish. Tired of being busy. Let me admit it, she was just plain tired.

Sleeping Beauty took another long look at the cupboard and said "I'm going to take a nap."

She was woken up a week before Pesach by a pretty standard handsome prince. Things were looking good. For one thing, there was the prince. For another, after a hundred years the food in her pantry was unbelievably past its use-by date. She simply threw everything away to start again. The easiest Pesach cleaning she had ever done in her life. For a third thing, there was the prince.

There were no deadlines. They had all gone, long ago. So had her opportunities. So had her friends. But her prince was a nice chap. She could deal.

That next week she discovered what her new life would be like. She had hastily married her prince, which was fine. What was less good was that he didn't even know what 'Jewish' meant and how her background shaped her life. She was beginning to discover the effect of cultural change on everyday life in other ways, too. For instance, she had her own castle still, but none of the servants quite understood her instructions. What was oddest of all was that the people around her kept telling her, 'No-one hates Jews any more. Stop complaining.' Yet she still couldn't go to synagogue without security guards three thick.

The princess thought "At least my guard is because royalty needs security in this odd future of mine. It's not because anyone threatens Jews with violence anymore. I know this because there was nothing about violence against Jews in the newspapers. That's another good thing: I've slept through racism and it's gone."

She arrived at shul and discovered they wouldn't let her in unless they knew her. There were security guards 5 thick and barbed wire to boot.

"The schoolground was fire-bombed yesterday," explained one of them, apologetically.

"No-one told me. It wasn't in the news."

"It happened to the Jewish community. Why should it reach the news? It wasn't terrorism, after all. It wasn't even important," said that non-Jewish guard.

The princess had a very private morning service, just herself and her prayer-book, in the tower she had hidden in a hundred years ago. Then she went right back to sleep again.

(no subject)

On a less sarcastic note than my previous: entries still open for the signed poster of Masques. Did I forget to say that contributors are eligible to win it, as are CSFG members? Oops, I did forget. Spread the word. If none of the entries appeal to me, I might give it to myself for my birthday present.

Speaking of which, it's not much use organising a party or even a dinner party for a long weekend in Canberra, no matter how amazing my forthcoming age. If anyone is in Canberra on ANZAC Day, I'd be very happy to go out somewhere for lunch or dinner. Otherwise, I am going to find a chatroom and annoy people for as long as people are in the chat room, able to be annoyed. I'll post the URL of the chatroom after Passover.



PS Everything has an edge today because it's my fourth day of high pain. It's not the cortisone thing - it's my other, perfectly normal, chronic ailments. Don't get worried. It's not at all serious. It will fade. I shall return to my nicer self when it does. I don't need suggested new medications unless you are au fait with all my ailments and what I have already tried - I know why things are not good right now and I'm doing everything I can to move on. What I need most of everything, right now, is for friends to not take any evil edge too seriously. It will pass. You don't even have to be supportive or sympathetic (to be honest) because this is life as normal for Gillian. I just got tired of hiding it today, which is really not fair on anyone except me. It feels nice for me, though! (And pity poor eneit who has been working with me constantly these last couple of weeks and heard nothing but "It hurts," and a bit of a sulk, and "I'm going to lie down.")