Remembering (James)

Read Chana Jenny’s story of her schizophrenic neighbour James here. He died last night in Israel.

There are Jameses everywhere among us and though he was not, many of them are Jewish – like my younger brother, Eli (rhymes with smelly jelly belly – as I so often reminded him as a kid).

That story IS my brother; maybe. Maybe a little older, and b”h, he is still alive. Eli is 40 years old now.

We haven’t yet found an apartment, rooming house or other living arrangement that will hold his “disarray and filth,” as Chana Jenny put it, so I’m kind of wondering whether it will be the alcohol or Canadian winters that will kill him before his time.

Still – I hope my brother, in his travels, manages to find beyond his own family the nice neighbours (like her) to receive his odd gifts and occasional moments of lucidity.

Rest in Peace – Alav ha-Shalom.

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