Today is Tishri 12, 5770 according to the Jewish calendar.
As my bloggy friend Barbara pointed out, last Sunday was Yom Kippur, a day of celebration at the end of the ten days of Awe which start with the Jewish New Year, Rosh ha-Shanah.
I must admit, the only thing my family did that day was attend church which was awesome since Marilyn Hickey was the guest speaker…but I digress.
I did, however, observe the ten days of Awe for myself. Since I haven’t learned all the in’s and out’s of these days, mine was rather simplistic in nature. I used each day as a time of reflection, self-examination, much repentance and prayer. I will admit, by the eighth day I was convinced I wouldn’t survive anymore self-examination! But, it was worth it and Yom Kippur was a very special day for me personally. Next year, my goal is to make it a family event!
Okay, on to today’s topic.
The first stumbling block
As Jewishness is passed down through the mother, I was so proud at the start of this project to announce to my children that they are Jewish and we as a family (with Daddy in agreement) are going to return to our roots.
What is the scripture? Pride cometh before a fall?
Off to the library we went in search of Jewish children’s books. I found a wonderful book called What makes me a Jew? By Adam Woog
With anticipation I checked it out and took it home ignoring the fact that my son kept trying to put it back on the library shelf. The next morning, we sat down to read the first chapter. My son (who adores reading) hemmed and hawed over the whole thing. “Mom, please don’t make us read this book.” “Can we read Clifford instead?”
Trying to keep the event a happy one, we stopped for the day.
The next day, we sat down AGAIN to read the book. Bug, AGAIN, griped and complained until we turned the page and found a picture of a group of school children standing over the Torah, reading it with a Yud.
Ecstatic, Bug yells out, “Mom, those kids are reading toilet paper!”
And, now it’s cool to be a Jew. You get to read toilet paper.
Hysterically laughing and greatly humbled, we returned the book to the library and I’m currently looking for different avenues to try with the kids.
Any suggestions?
In the mean time, I have some studying to do as next week is Sukkot.
Shalom!
5 comments:
I have kind of been like Bug with my book Judaism for Dummies. I use it as a reference instead of reading to learn before I need it. That is one of the reasons I am excited you are going to dive into the Jewish customs. It will add a greater understanding of our roots. I think that is for all of us. Parts of the Bible will have greater meaning. We will connect things we did not see before. My book is now going to be on my night stand. I am going to read what's on the paper, kind of like Bug: ) Sukkot here I come! B
I am so glad you are blogging again! this sounds educational, I'll be hungrily reading whatever you have to teach me.
I too am looking for a theme to give me purpose in my posts. I may have found it, but am not quite ready to reveal...
p.s. 5770 years since what?
This is going to be really interesting. I'm interested in the answer to Kristas' question as well Lxx
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