The most important thing for Christians to acknowledge is that there is no black and white in the world. Only grey areas that must be navigated carefully exist and continuously call Christians to action. The discussed story is “Free Fruit for Young Widows” by Nathan Englander, featured in the May 2010 issue of the New Yorker magazine. One of the main characters, Etgar Gezer, learns to understand the grey areas of life through his father, Shimmy Gezer, and his association with Professor Tendler. The story details important events in the life of Professor Tendler, a holocaust survivor who also fought for Israel in several battles. This is an excellent and compelling tale that raises many philosophical issues. I chose this narrative because forgiveness and understanding are crucial in my faith, and I wanted to learn more about it through the story. “Free Fruit for Young Widows” demonstrates that some core Christian values, such as forgiveness, love, and lack of judgment, navigate people towards the right choices and life improvement.
Forgiveness is an inevitable aspect of Christianity, and it might take a severe amount of strength to transfer anger into gratefulness. This is portrayed in the treatment of Professor Tendler by Shimmy Gezer. In particular, Gezer appreciates the severity of Tendler’s past struggles and treats him most affectionately. Notably, it is easy to discredit Tendler’s suffering, as is done by a young Etgar, because it appears to be universal in the sense that Shimmy also lost his entire family to the genocide.
However, Shimmy understands that Tendler dealt with the pain of losing his family and being betrayed by his other family differently. He recognizes how Tendler’s pain unfurled into mental disassociation and turned him into a cold-blooded murderer with little remorse (Englander par. 30). Shimmy describes Tendler as having been already killed in Europe in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In light of this assessment, Shimmy forgives Tendler for brutally pummelling him and forms a strong friendship with him. Shimmy gives Professor Tendler free fruit from his stall as an act of love and affection for the professor. It is valuable that Christians use others’ pain to create friendship and love as opposed to judging them from lofty positions of moral superiority. Seeing this outstanding example of forgiveness makes me want to be less judgemental and more understanding toward people since forgiveness is one of the greatest Christian virtues.
Another important aspect of a truly Christian person is being a noble giver. Shimmy Gezer gives free fruit to young widows as well as other members of the community affected by previous wars and injustices. Shimmy packs the women’s vegetables “quietly and with dignity” to cause them no shame (Englander par. 22). Thus, there is a way he assists them so as not to invoke feelings of inferiority or weakness in them. This is one of the attributes Etgar learns from his father by the end of the story as Etgar continues with his father’s tradition of assisting Professor Tendler nobly. The episode serves me as an example of love towards the close ones, Christian kindness, and care. He provided them with food and protected their feelings, and such sincerity determines the true Christian.
Additionally, Shimmy offers his assistance consistently, which adds to the sense of dignity in his giving. Christians are regularly called to charity and, especially, to assist vulnerable community members (Mizrachi and Friedman 2). The story reminds Christians to do it quietly to give dignity to assisted persons. Otherwise, charity, a positive act, becomes a fraudulent show that leaves the beneficiary feeling inadequate and inferior to the benefactor. Therefore, giving people unconditional love, help, support, or showing mercy, in general, is an inevitable part of Christianity. It is challenging for my faith because it takes much work to perform those duties.
One of the hardest aspects of Christianity is not making judgments about others and leaving the decision to God. From reading the story, it is easy to condemn Professor Tendler simply from the number of persons he has murdered. In an ideal world, Professor Tendler has done immense wrong and deserves to pay for his actions. However, the story calls for Christians to be more nuanced in their judgments. In particular, all Professor Tendler knows is death, having seen his family murdered and living in a pile of dead bodies for an extended period. Shimmy appreciates Tendler’s past and views him as a survivor who had to make difficult choices to save his life. It can be difficult to understand some of the actions done by others. However, it is not in my place to understand them, and it is extremely difficult to put myself in another position. Thus, I believe this is the hardest part of Christianity when I try to demonstrate acceptance and less judgment. However, I think there is a God’s plan, and everything happens for a reason, so that might help me be more open to people.
In conclusion, Christians must accept and expect grey areas to define their lives. A kind act such as assisting the vulnerable can easily turn into a humiliation for the receiver. On the other hand, people who have wronged us immensely in the past and appear emotionally fractured can easily become lifelong friends if we take the time to understand their struggles. Thus, Christians must learn how to navigate the difficulty presented by grey areas by always being kind instead of judgemental to others who are also caught up in tough decisions. From a personal perspective, this text challenges me to become more nuanced in my understanding of the world. It also provides food for philosophical thought that is necessary for shaping the mindset of a proper Christian individual.
Works Cited
Englander, Nathan. “Nathan Englander: “Free Fruit for Young Widows.” The New Yorker. Web.
Mizrachi, Murray, and Hershey Freidman. “Raising the Needy from the Dust”: The Judeo-Christian Imperative.” Journal of Biblical Integration in Business vol. 24, no. 1, 2021, pp. 29-38.