HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    
 Life goes on. From the high notes to the low ones, from the peaks to the valleys: our business is to put one foot in front of another and do our best to be good parents, spouses, caretakers.

My Grandparents
on dad's side

     I am a Christian, but my Jewish roots assert themselves throughout every day of my life. What does it mean? 
     Being Jewish doesn't mean, one worships at a synagogue and eats only kosher foods. Being Jewish means belonging to a culture, a people, who withstood unimaginable adversities together and carried with them that same sense of oneness and belonging, no matter, what religious - or otherwise - affiliations they might have!
     On the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth of September the year ended and began. The year 5777 on the Jewish calendar! May it be for the whole world a year of joy, great accomplishments and reconciliation!
     As a small reminder of that occasion, Sonny and I lit candles on the first evening of Rosh Hashanah and made a celebration on the next one. Serina, Roberta and I lit the candles again. 

The meaning of that Holiday is showing our reliance on the Grace of God for making the next year - a year of joy and prosperity. That's why we eat apples dipped in honey for it to be sweet and eat things - like fish heads - to ensure being at the top of our chosen pursuits and occupations. 

     

We didn't manage to secure a fish head for our dinner (nor did we really try!). Instead we had the honeyed apples, cake, challah-bread (also dipped in honey)  and watermelon. We toasted the old year out and the new year in with the black currant juice and wished each other for our names to be inscribed in the Book of Life.



     And that was the good part of the week. For the shocking rest of the story read my next post.