On This Rosh Hashannah, Who Will Walk By My Side?

Was that woman walking her cat? On a leash?

Because that’s sure what it looked like.

The woman, heading towards us, was walking two by two with a very pretty, very spry cat. As if they were out for an evening stroll.

I noticed that sometimes they walked next to each other on the new path built where Jerusalem’s old railroad tracks once stood. And sometimes the cat leaped onto the street, always making sure to kept pace with the woman.

But when I got closer I saw that there was no leash.

“Is that your cat?” I asked the woman.

“No,” she said, “but it’s just madhim.” Which is another way of saying, amazing.

In other words: she had no idea who this cat was or why it was so insistent upon staying by her side. Because that’s really what was going on. Except for a brief pause when Mr. Trevor dog and the cat sized each other up, once the woman turned to keep on walking, the cat ran to be by her side. It was literally hopping along at a very clipped pace just to be her ezer kedegno, her constant companion.

“You know that cat has chosen you!” I called out, because you’re allowed to call out things like that in Israel.

“Now there’s nothing you can do. That cat is yours for good!” I added, because in Israel, you’re also allowed to underscore your dramatic statements with an even more dramatic finish.

The woman turned towards me, laughed, and shrugged her shoulders.

That’s when it hit me: I wish some little gray cat would choose me as his partner!

I mean, with the new year approaching and all, I have come to the conclusion that what I’d really like – nay, what I really petition the heavens for – is a cat who will appear by my side. “We’re together now,” he’d say, and that, as they say, would be that.

Because I have let a lot of good men go over the years. More than one little gray cat has appeared by my side and for one reason or another, I have inevitably shooed them away.

And now I regret it.

How many chances will I get?

All I know is that I hope another cat shows up - and the sooner the better.

I hope for my sake that he is a good one. A cat of integrity and kindness. A cat full of love and good humor and intellect. A cat who has room in his heart for me.

And maybe, just maybe, this time I will actually say yes.