Yonatan

An old friend is in town, staying with me. He is much older than me. I love to hear his stories, has fought in many wars and battles, large and small. But few stay with him still as much as the day Yonatan Netanyahu died.

Yonatan was the only casualty of the Israeli commando rescue force that on June 27, 1976, pulled off the classic Entebbe Raid and rescued over 100 hostages, 83 of whom were Israelis. It is a classic in the annals of special operations. Yonatan was also the commander of Operation Entebbe.

My friend, Marek, was on that raid. He had a strong bond with Yonatan and faults himself for Yonatan's death. This is odd and uncommon amongst weredogs, especially one who has seen so many centuries and wars.

Marek, being a weredog, is not Jewish. But he is very comfortable around  Jews and like to play the role of Jew and has done so in several of his human phases. He wishes he had been at Massada and claims to have once known a weredog who was there. I don't have all the details of that dog but suspect there are deeper issues that have to do with his attachment to Judaism and his guilt over Yonatan's death.

Each, regardless of where he is or which phase he is in, he goes to a synagogue and grieves for Yonatan. Several times, during human phases, he has traveled to Jerusalem for this grieving.

I have known, and know, many weredogs who identify with one human religion or another. This is odd when you consider that weredogs are not religious. We are not naturally drawn to religion on our own, but only through human associations. And you could never get two weredogs to agree on anything having to do with religion. However, such discussions do not much involve disagreements about doctrine and digressions and as they do the smells of churches, how the people and spaces feel to them, and the timbre of truth in the voices of pastors and priests. I wonder if it is any different with people.

Werewolves despise human religion. They believe that churches and clergy screw up man's search for higher power, and that the best place to connect with any higher power is anywhere that you can see the full moon at night.

Marek is joining Caitlyn and I this week for some patrols and surveillances, and a pack meeting that has promised road-kill BBQ, one of my few weaknesses. Ever wonder what happens to all the roadkill that you see on the sides of roads, and then you don't? Probably it winds up in the belly of weredogs, or werewolves.