Rabbi Claude's Scribbles

Dedicated to Harav Yitzchak ben Shlomo Jacobs ztl - May his memory be a blessing. I have never experienced anything like it. Not only were we entirely enveloped in darkness, but the absence of any sort of light caused us to be rooted to the spot and too frightened to move.   There was a complete absence of light, the kind of which I had never experienced.   My daughters and I were visiting Chislehurst Caves and our guide had warned us that we were about to experience something unusual.   We switched off our torches and there we were standing in awe and fear,   excited at the thought of the situation we found ourselves in.   It was also very unnerving.   I remember trying to make sense of the moment and two thoughts came into my mind. Firstly, I was reminded of the plague of darkness that afflicted the Egyptians.       For three days it was so dark that they were unable to move from the spot.   I then recalled the first few pesukim/verses of Bereshit/Genesis:  

Genesis 32:25 Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. The distance between Belfast and Buenos Aires is just under seven thousand miles, yet, in the footballing world, it is around the corner. He was born on 25th May 1946 in Cregagh, East Belfast as the oldest child of Anne and Richard and within a generation, he would be hailed as one of the finest footballers on the planet. Fourteen years after his birth, on 30th October 1960, in Lanus, a province of Buenos Aires, Dalma and Chitoro welcomed their fifth child and first son to the world.   He too would eventually become known throughout the world and venerated as the greatest footballer of his generation. Both men would attain a place that is reserved for very few humans and tragically in both cases, would burn up when inevitably returning to earth. And in a chilling coincidence, both men would pass away at nearly the same age on the very same day, fifteen years apart. On 25th November