Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Community

Prepent Day 20: Emergency Soul Contact

Who is your emergency contact? I’ll confess that as someone who’s been single for a while this question, asked by medical staff or an airline booking agent, can trigger some anxiety. On this day, unbelievably 16 years ago, the world woke up to a global crisis and terror gone wild that now dominates so much of our existence. 9/11 defined emergency for this generation. Living in downtown NYC, what I recall most from that day was how much more I felt more in touch, connected, to everyone. I had a beloved emergency contact then and he was the first one I thought of when evacuating. I remember the relief of knowing he was alive.

So today I challenge myself, you, single or not, to think of who is your soul-emergency-contact. Who do you go to when the soul cries, when fears rise, when despair takes over? It’s not always the same person as the one who would take you to the doctor; it’s not necessarily a doctor that’s needed. May memories become blessings and today’s legacy remind us to love..

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.