Introduction Narrow Bridge

Rabbi Mendel said, "There's nothing more whole than a broken heart". Helene and David were children when this tragedy began - war trauma has broken their hearts. The evil of trauma is that, in every way imaginable, it bullies us to disconnect from our feelings and other people. However, is not the Rabbi saying that suffering is a condition of wholeness? How can that be? In trauma, we violently regress to the nerve center of being, where, isolated, fearful, hurting, and memory distorted, we cling oh so miserably to that thing called life. So, how can a broken heart be whole? Helene and David will struggle to overcome that disconnect. Each will earnestly reach out to the other - and this is one of the things I think the Rabbi was getting at. If we are to become truly human, we must grow bigger than our pain. We can rid trauma of its power, its destructiveness, by breaking through the isolation, fear, and hurt, if we can keep our hearts open and continue to feel, and feel deeply - that felt connection is the wholeness. To quote the Rabbi again: "Angels reside where they are allowed to enter." Can there be angels even in the pit of hell? You decide.