28.January '09
Dear All,
I have been asked, in this letter from abroad, to make a few remarks about our dear teacher and friend, Colette Aboulker-Muscat, the Beloved of Jerusalem.
We call her simply Colette, the third of three given names by which she was known at various times in her life. And just as we call Colette 'Colette,' she called each of us by our given names: Katrine, Tirza, Francoise . . . , Ana, Zho-an . . . , Moshe, Pesach . . . , Heidi, Dina, Aliza, to name but a few from the last generation of devoted students. But of course there were myriad others, as well, whose names, if not always known to us now, ring out from her childhood, through two world wars, and from all her days in Jerusalem, over half a century.
As you mingle, then, among yourselves at this auspicious gathering, listen to the therapists, the psychologists, the psychiatrists, the neurologists. Listen to the artists and poets, the writers and actors. And most importantly, perhaps, listen to the mothers and fathers, the sons and daughters who came, over so many years, to listen to Colette. Listen to those who attended her Saturday night salon, the ones who visited her weekday afternoons, the ones who were accepted to her morning classes. What you will hear, you must listen to very carefully. And as you listen, you must know that it is not always easy to hear, just as for some, it was not always easy to hear even Colette.
I remember a woman who came to Colette one afternoon, explained her condition, complete with medical records, then proceeded to counter, with irrelevant assertions and excuses, everything Colette had to say. Colette, looking about her at her other guests and students waived her hand to encompass each one of them, and said simply, "You do not understand how valuable is my time." She then dismissed the woman.
And, as one story calls up another, I am reminded of a therapist who, having been attacked by a cancer, came to Colette. Colette asked if the exercise she had given to calm the therapist's stress was being done. The answer was, "No." To which Colette replied, "Then surely now you must pay. You must begin immediately to treat clients who suffer this cancer."
And then there was a friend who returned to the States and said, "Colette didn't say a thing to me. She only told me to look at myself in the mirror, and to begin wearing lipstick."
My friend couldn't hear because she was not able to listen. In the words of Colette, to "Pay attention!"
When her book, Mea Culpa, came out, she told her students to read it, one story at a time, one story each day. When I told her I was reading it backwards, she said, "Yes. This is good. But one story each day."
Shortly before she died, she made almost a crusade of telling stories. Story after story. Yes, I know, she always told stories, but the pace and the intensity and the repetitions of her stories increased markedly. She wanted us to listen. She wanted us to pay attention. She wanted us to hear.
More than ever, Colette repeated the story of the Golden Peach, how the one who possesses it will live for three thousand years. For Colette, those three thousand years have now begun. And I will say, without hesitation, that the secret to each of those years will lie in our caring, our desire, and our ability to listen and to hear . . . , and then to tell others. In the words of Reb Nachman of Breslov, whom Colette admired greatly, "If you want, you will. If not, not."
And already, the grandchildren, and perhaps even great-grandchildren of her students can tell you about Colette. They are listening. Among other things, my own six-year-old granddaughter is listening by reading Colette's memoir, Life is Not a Novel. And so it is that through the generations Colette will have her three thousand years through her words, through her teachings, through her love. She will have her three thousand years as we speak those words, as we teach those lessons, and as we engender that love . . . , and, of course, as we tell her story, her stories, and the story of her stories.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity. And thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
Martin Farren
Contact
Colette had many students and close associates. Guidelines for submitting material about additional students and associates may be found on the Home page.
March10, 2009