How can I thank Nancy Miller again? Doesn’t it seem as if I have thanked her 347 times already? But what can I do if she keeps doing great work? Should I thank my friend and agent, Charlotte Sheedy? Is it a problem that she doesn’t get it? Or should I thank her for championing it even when she doesn’t get it? And what about George Gibson, the publisher? Do I thank him? Is that just because I’m so happy to be doing a book with him again? Or is it because he is a great publisher? Or is it just because I like him so much?
Shouldn’t I thank Rabbi Rolando Matalon, a great questioner with the rare blend of intellect and kindness? Since he is always full of interesting ideas, should I also thank him for putting me on to the brilliant work of Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and especially her dazzling study of the Book of Exodus—The Particulars of Rapture? But if I’m going to thank her, shouldn’t I then thank Margaret MacMillan who wrote Dangerous Games, a book I don’t entirely agree with but thoroughly enjoyed for its reasoning and the quality of the questions she asked?
And having thanked these people, what about all the rest? Do I thank Nietsche? Or would spelling his name correctly be enough?
And what about my wife, Marian, and daughter, Talia? Shouldn’t I just thank them for answering my question: Why am I here?