It started last night when Richard, a friend from way back in middle school, left me a voice mail message seeking my thoughts on an appropriate gift for a bat mitzvah. He noted that he most often "defaults" to money, but thought I might have a better handle on the topic.
This coming Saturday, he and his wife will pick me up at the Metuchen train station so I can ride with them to Temple Har Shalom, where the eldest daughter of a third friend will become bat mitzvah.
By the time I listened to his message, it was too late to call back, so I responded with a text, and the conversation took off from there:
My Jewish educator friends need not worry. I'm not giving up my day job!
