Friends

 There is a story which makes the rounds in Jewish circles regarding the origin of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer. I will include an image from the Artscroll machzor. It is blurry but, hey, these days, who isn't? nowutimean?

This is the text as it reads on the OU website, "The Bishop of Mainz summoned Rabbi Amnon, a great Torah scholar, to his court and offered him a ministerial post on the condition that Rabbi Amnon would convert to Christianity. Rabbi Amnon refused. The Bishop insisted and continued to press Rabbi Amnon to accept his offer. Of course, Rabbi Amnon continued to refuse. One day, however, Rabbi Amnon asked the Bishop for three days to consider his offer."

Compare that to the Museum of the Jewish People, "...about rabbi Amnon of Mainz who was a friend of the local Christian ruler, who urged him again and again to convert to Christianity. Whether out of fear, courtesy, or sincere intentions, rabbi Amnon promised his friend he will consider it for three days. Then he felt deep remorse and suffered a lot. When the time came, he tried to avoid the bishop, who was surprised at his friend’s behavior, and soon sent people to force him in. Rabbi Amnon then begged his friend to cut off his tongue that made him utter the words he regretted so much."

If you can make your way through the image or look in the Museum write up, you will see that the relationship between the Bishop and the rabbi was marked by the word "friend."

I'm not one who is especially expert on the range of relationships that can be called "friendship" but if the connection to the "other" makes multiple amputations possible, I would suggest that the word "friend" might not be the best choice to characterize the bond.

This is why I don't have friends. I like my arms where they are.