Captain's Log: 27th of Elul, year 5719
Crying over a feeling that does not seem all that serious or sad is certainly an invitation to think of ones own emotions as a silly form of intoxication - a drivel, for the lack of a better word. But recently, I had a weepy episode that made me think that these psychological cloudbursts were not just random hormonal storms.
A few days ago, I woke up in the middle of the night weeping for my mother, who had died in the Treblinka labor camp in 1943 (she was worked to death). Upon hearing my crying, Zaraki and Yachiru (she sleeps in our bed, bless her heart) woke up.
"What's the matter, Sam?" Zaraki asked.
"What's wrong, Sammy'el?" Yachiru joined.
I happened to be blubbering like a six-year-old who fell off his bike and scrapped his knee.
"Nothing - everything - I miss my my mother," I managed to choke out.
Zaraki sighed and place his hand on my neck and Yachiru gave me a big hug.
But their ways of comfort only made me realize that in the distant future, one day, one of us will disappear.
It seemed to me that there really was a monster under my bed.
~ Sama'el Tzufit Kaahn; Shinigami Captain General.
--
Sama'el's jounral entry is loosly based on an article from a Newsweek magazine.
I really wanted to draw Yachiru and Sama'el together for a long time now. Yachiru adores Sam. She would come by Sam's office five to six times a week for three reasons. One, 'Sammy'el-soutaichou' always had the best candy, it was from Poland and Yachiru loved it. Second, Yachiru felt like Sama'el was never looking down at her because she was young. And Third, Yachiru loved hearing stories of Sama'el's life as a young girl. She was mesmerized at how Sama'el would tell stories; some funny, some sad. They were like Aesop's Fables; only these were just for Yachiru.
Yachiru's a sharp cookie. She's searching for a mommy ("Because a family needs a mommy and a daddy").
Also, I think that Sama'el loves Yachiru as a daughter because one of the many things that happened in Auschwitz-Birkenau (and probably many other extermination camps) was that Nazi officers would swing little children against the walls.
"...small children were thrown in through a window. [SS Technical Sergeant] Moll grabbed infants by their little legs and smashed their skulls against the wall."
- from The Buchenwald Report
So it would only be natural that Sama'el would protect little Yachiru. But Sama'el also knows that all things (including Shinigami) eventually will die. So from then on Sama'el agreed to be Yachiru's mommy. Because everyone needs a mommy...
PS~ another lesson in Jewish traditions. The Jewish Calendar is not the same as the Gregorian Calendar (ours).
The Jewish calendar is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis (a day); the revolution of the moon about the Earth (a month); and the revolution of the Earth about the sun (a year). These three phenomena are independent of each other, so there is no direct correlation between them. But, the Jewish calendar, however, coordinates all three of these astronomical phenomena. Months are either 29 or 30 days, corresponding to the 29½-day lunar cycle. Years are either 12 or 13 months, corresponding to the 12.4 month solar cycle.
the names of the months are different as well. The month of 'Elul' is August - September, and is about 30 days long.
As for years...according to the Jewish Calendar, we're in the year 5767.
So 27th of Elul, year 5719 = August 27, 1959
Kusajishi Yachiru (c) Tite Kubo
Sama'el Tzufit Kaahn (c) Ariel X. H. N. (me)
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