The Book of Longings

Jewish law sets aside 80 days after the death of a child for the mother’s confinement and recovery. A grieving Ana resolves never to write again. Yaltha cannot abide Ana’s despair. She brings to her bedroom the pieces of a large clay pot. The clay is as good as papyrus, she says, and it is time for Ana to write again. Yaltha then shares with Ana a secret: When she left Alexandria, she left behind a daughter, Chaya, who would be Ana’s age now. She had no choice but to leave her daughter. The women’s colony where she lived after exile did not allow children.

Jesus finally returns. He views Ana’s writing as her prayer and encourages her to take it up again. His journeys into the neighboring towns only increase his awareness of the inequities of the world, the sharp disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Jesus secures a position working on construction in Jerusalem, and Ana sees a chance to trade some jewelry in the marketplace for paper and ink. As her confinement ends, Ana dreams she is in labor again, but the child she brings forth is her—she is mother and baby both.