Bar Mitzva Story: a retrospective of the big day - part II

Ok. Here comes part two. We were at the synagogue. And indeed, it proved to be the perfect choice.
But let me first tell you what happened to my little sweet-faced baby on his road to becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Because 13 is apparently not just a randomly selected age. It appears to be a real watershed in terms of boys growing up.

Because here is what happened to MB:

Bar Mitzvah story: a retrospective of the big day-part 1

A few days before we celebrated the Jewish New Year it occurred to me that we were exiting my son's Bar Mitzvah year. It also occurred to me that most of the posts in this blog have been about My Girl (MG) and not much has been said about My Boy (MB). So this one is for you, MB.

Happy new year

Jews all over the world will be celebrating the Jewish new year tonight.

In half an hour here in Tel Aviv I will light my candles with my family and then we will go over to my mother's house for a family meal. Delicious food, always, and many many people.

Unlike secular new years' celebrations, on December 31, the Jewish New Year is a time for introspection,  leading up to the 10 Yamim Noraim, or 10 days of Awe, that close with the Yom Kippur, a day of  fasting and reckoning in which Jews ask forgiveness to peers and to God for all their sins.

I have spent the morning cooking as tomorrow I have about 20 people over for lunch - but I have taken the easy way out and the meal will be salads and cold cuts.

So now I am sitting in my living room. Surrounded by flowers sent to my by my best friend (a girl) and by my husband and children. I am waiting for everyone to come to the living room to light the festival candles. They are having their showers - and I'm listening to some music. All smells clean. All is quiet. All is good.

As Benjamin Franklin (apparently) said: “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man” (or woman).


Happy new year to all of us.


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When do you delete?

It is probably due to my growing older, but I find myself more and more being confronted by a dilemma that involves new technology and the natural process of life, or rather death.