The most recent edition of RJ magazine includes this little blurb
that I wrote last year just before the High Holy Days. I wouldn’t normally point something like this
out to you, but this past Saturday was Brian’s bar mitzvah and I chose my
jewelry for the occasion very carefully.
Included in my ensemble were a necklace and two bracelets that belonged
to you. When we got to temple, Aunt Claire was wearing earrings--which
you know she doesn’t do very often. They
were very pretty and I complimented her on them. She told me that you had given them to her. It seems that you were on everyone’s mind
that morning.
The bar mitzvah was lovely and
Brian did a great job. The service was a
bit long, though, given that it was a double and there were the extra Hallel readings for Sukkot (as well as a
second hakafah before the scroll was
returned to the ark. I’ve never seen
that done…have you?) You’ll be
interested to know, too, that in Conservative congregations, God’s still reviving
the dead, unlike “by us” where the Eternal is giving
life to all. :-) Meitim vs. hakol aside, the Conservative siddur
lists the matriarchs in the order that you prefer them: Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, and Ted told
me that every time that passage was read, he thought of you. You really were ahead of your time. Amy and I opened the ark before the Torah
service, Daddy carried one of the scrolls, and Aunt Claire had an aliyah. She did a wonderful job; you would
have been proud.
At the reception, I chatted with Sherry and Marvin Freedman and all of Aunt Claire's neighbors and friends -- the Marks', the Ronans, and the Kossins. We talked about you, and Mrs. Ronan told a story about Uncle Irv. Before long, we were all laughing about his cigarettes and how he'd stick them in his pocket whenever anyone came out into the garden to check on him. Those memories never seem to fade...they've just gotten sweeter with time.
Here are some pictures so you can
see how we’re all looking these days. We
missed you, but in so many ways you were right there with us…as you are
always.
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| Ian: Getting so tall, but still sweet as ever |
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| Ian and Amy |
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| Pretty Jill (she's 15!) |
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| Daddy with Amy and me |
Chag sameach, The Mums and xoxo,
~ Boo!
P.S. Melinda Panken used your ethical will as part
of her remarks during Yizkor on Yom Kippur and Peter Weidhorn told me that
there wasn’t a dry eye in the sanctuary.
I think that your values are living on in ways that you probably couldn’t
have imagined when you first penned those words. xoxo.
