Oh So Sweet

Email from Gene (Grandpa) and Marilyn (Nana):

D & E,

I just can’t get that beautiful little T.E. out of my head.  We were both so much enthralled with him.  Can we do another skype soon?  Is he stretching his legs out straight yet?  What other new tricks is he coming up with?

Dan, that was great news about New Mexico.  I know better than to ask how your exam went – you’d just say something like, “It went.”   I’m sure it was great.  And now I imagine you’re working hard on shows for Friday.  Burn down the house.

Ellie momma, it was wonderful to see you so intent with Theo.  You’ve got a fine mother in you, besides of course, a fine lawyer.

It was a short visit, but oh so sweet.

Love,

Gandpa & Nana

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Rosh Hashanah Notes

Rosh Hashanah - challah bread, "Head of the Year," the Day Of Remembering. Rosh Hashanah, the ten Days Of Awe, and Yom Kippur are the most holy holidays of the Jewish tradition, marking a new year and a new start. Poem Coming Up On September by Marge Piercy, Day of Remembrance. Rosh Hashanah is a time to renew the ongoing spiritual commitment to oneself, one's family, and one's community, Rosh Hashanah starts the ten Days Of Awe, days of reflection on where we have been and where we are going, ending in Yom Kippur. Poem Every Day Is The Last Day by Carl Sandburg, Oseh Shalom Bimromov. excerpt of Humanistic Judaism service:
1: In the twilight of the vanishing year, our hearts are filled with hope. Although there is suffering, we will not yield to despair.
2: As Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, begins, we look ahead with hope.
3: Through this year, we were buoyed by love and kindness, by family and community.
4: As Rosh Hashanah begins, we take solace in one another.
5: But we regret our failure to do all we could to ease pain and suffering, to bring joy and light.
6: As the New Year begins, contrition fills our souls.
7: The New Year brings new resolve. We are thankful for the daily miracle of renewal, for the promise of good to come. May this Rosh Hashanah, birthday of the new year, be our day of rebirth into life and peace, serenity and safety.
8: As the New Year begins, we resolve to fulfill the promise of Rosh Hashanah.
9. We reflect upon the old year; we embrace the New Year. All: We gratefully acknowledge all that the past year has brought us of life and health, of love and joy, of beauty and truth, of strength and courage. Whatever good we have known this year, we reflect upon with gratitude: yet, we also reflect upon our sorrows, failures, and disappointments.
10: Who of us can be entirely content with even our personal lives when we know the injustices in the world? And, yet, the New Year is a reminder and celebration of the eternal possibility of renewal and improvement.
11. We want to be more than we are. We want to be wiser, kinder, more vital, and more confident in the act of living. We want to seize the world zestfully and turn to some urgent purpose.
12: May this day help us to find meaning in our lives. May we look backward and forward, but not stand still.
13: Rosh Hashanah heralds an opportunity for new beginnings. Now is the time to evaluate what has transpired during the year past and to discard what no longer fits the person we want to be. Self-reflection, self-evaluation, self-renewal: These are the tasks we are called to by Rosh Hashanah.
14. This is a time for truth, a time to respond to difficult questions.
15. Have I been honest with others and with myself?
16. Have I developed my talents, or settled for mere adequacy?
17. Have I been less than I can be?
18. Rosh Hashanah of old spoke in terms of prayer, repentance, and charity. In other words, of reasserting our ethical core and renewing our contract with life. Then, as now, the words point to our responsibility to go within and find there the understanding, the means, and the strength with which to shed light on our own histories and fashion our own way in the future.
19. We must first judge ourselves, our actions and intentions. Then we must forgive ourselves, accept responsibility for our shortcomings, and ready ourselves for the year to come. We inscribe ourselves in our own books of life.
20. On this first day of Awe, we accept this awesome task, of self-judgment and the consequences that follow. May these ten Days of Awe be days of reflection and introspection.
21. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts find expression in our lives day by day, that we may bridge the gap between our conscience and our conduct, between what we believe and what we do.
22. May there be peace within and peace on Earth. Let us sing with joy for the New Year.