Rabbi and scholar Abraham Joshua Heschel teaches about radical amazement by pointing to the ineffable. His life models not just beholding the mystery, but the call to repair and transform the world. He believed that “something is asked from us”. He also said, “some are guilty, but all are responsible”. His lifework testified to the importance of being partners with God. This partnership was central as was his belief that religious diversity is God’s will.
 
As pilgrims, we can discover humanity’s heritage that takes us beyond our individual stories and life histories, to embrace our world heritage. Heschel’s legacy reminds us of the dimension of wonder-the dream of a world redeemed.
 
When my sister Cathy and I converged in a reunion with our birth family before our maternal grandmother died of cancer, I experienced the “ineffable”. Our reunion story has allowed me to cultivate radical amazement elicited by the mystery surrounding our homecoming.
 
This radical amazement is the catalyst for sharing my story with the world. I hope that my readership will be touched by our family’s reunion story in a way that will reinforce their own ability to see the ineffable more clearly in their lives. It is through wonder and radical amazement that we can find our unique way to partner with God, upholding the covenant between God and humanity.  This partnership opens toward a way of wonder filled with gratitude and a sense to serve. In his last interview he says that life is a celebration and that one should live life as if it was a work of art.

​Here is a link to Heschel’s last television interview:

Here is a link to a recent film about Heschel’s lifework.

​When I reconnected with the case worker that accompanied me during my search process, she shared a story with me about my father David, who called her to tell her that he supported my choice to search for my birth mother as well as sharing how much he loved me. That important story was like a “message in a bottle” that found me years after my father’s death.
 
The Nebraska Children’s Home Society has supported my process from being a foster child to searching for my birth parents, supporting me throughout the entire unfolding process. Here is a link to their website: https://nchs.org
 
The book Synchronicity and Reunion presents case studies that develop the theory of a homing in mechanism that guides children and parents separated at birth.

​I have many wonderful memories of being with my father. However, this picture of us in Wyoming, hiking Medicine Bow Peak, stands out. He initiated me by taking me “into the wild” with a backpack and good hiking boots when I was 14 years old. Cathy Hansen and learned about camping, making fires, fishing and cooking our catch, as well as how to endure long hours hiking in the high altitudes on pathways through the Rocky Mountains.
 
Those lessons shaped who I have become and even who my children are today. Cathy’s children all love to hike and ski too. Our fathers taught us to love the great outdoors as they did. They encouraged us to be strong, independent girls. They also believed in us and were convinced that we could carry all we needed on our backs as young teenagers. Those lessons have been invaluable. I am forever grateful for the nurturing, education, and love that I received from my father David Wilson Mossman.