Before anyone worries – it’s just been a very busy couple of weeks here, on this side of the screen. (All the better reason, if you don’t follow the Facebook page or the Twitter account, to do so – I’ve not been wholly quiet while I’ve been gone.) . But I’m going to try, now that things are calming down offline, to get back to a regular cadence and…
What? What have we been up to? Oh!
For starters, we took in an inclusive religious service last weekend, in advance of Purim. Continue reading
Today being the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we went to shul as a family.
(No, don’t be shocked that I’m on the computer. :p )
Granted, the Monster’s school is closed today for the holiday, more perhaps a function of the number of observant staff than the student body. It’s slated to be open again tomorrow, and he’ll go to school for his therapies then. R’s school doesn’t close for the holidays, but he has an excused absence.
And this year, we decided to not just lurk in the quiet room… Continue reading
I keep meaning to post about what’s going on politically, and frankly… it keeps sapping my will to post. So let’s go with something a lot more happy – the Monster had a field trip today from his Hebrew school, and I got voluntold to chaperone.
And afterwards, I’m not regretting it one bit. Continue reading
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we’ve started the Monster with Hebrew school at our shul. He’s had some basic “religious school” through an after-school program at his regular school, but this year was time for us to get a little more serious with it. He’s not had any objections to it so far, and the teachers have been telling us that he’s doing alright.
But part of the goal is also getting him more comfortable with coming to the building and being around celebrations, and… well, Simchat Torah is one of the easier times for him to be involved. Continue reading
So we ran into a quandary earlier this year.
The Monster’s now eight years old… which means that we’re five years out from his Bar Mitzvah (in theory) and two years out from picking a date for said event. And yet, I’ve not the slightest idea of what we’re going to do about when we get to thirteen. Continue reading
Certain holidays get really difficult with a child on the Spectrum.
The Monster’s eating, as I’ve referred to at various times, has gotten much better than it was. Where he used to eat about 10 things, he’s now eating nearly anything that comes in front of him…
And then, out of the blue, we hit Passover. Continue reading
Today was the second day of Rosh Hashanah for 5775.
This year, in Baltimore, the city’s public schools were open for the first day of the holiday, meaning that the Monster was in class. The wife arranged for R to have a playdate with a friend from nursery school, and so… we actually got a day to sit in our actual seats in the congregation for a change. (Well, as much as ‘we’ could, given that my wife’s vocal ensemble was performing with the cantor.)
However, today was a professional development day in Baltimore City’s schools, and we ended up with both children coming with us to synagogue. Continue reading
As another year’s High Holy Days starts to grow closer, obviously our thoughts start to turn back towards how to deal with the Monster and participation at synagogue.
(Now, my thoughts don’t just turn to this because we got our tickets for services on Saturday, but also because I had another occasion to be gabbai’ing, and because my in-laws were being honored for their fortieth wedding anniversary, my whole family came with me.)
We’re fortunate at our synagogue, as I’ve mentioned before on numerous occasions, to have a quiet room that’s well-situated so that parents can handle small children who aren’t up to participating in the services directly without missing the opportunity themselves to pray. Because the Monster is… unpredictable, we tend to migrate immediately there, rather than trying to get seated in the main sanctuary where he might disturb folks if he starts making noise. Continue reading
This is more of a “my failings” than “anything else” kind of post.
I’m not the most observant Jew, but I’d consider myself a decently-good one who tries relatively well to hew to the practices of Conservative Judaism.
For those of you who are long-time readers, you know that I’m a gabbai at my synagogue. I spend a Saturday morning, every few weeks, up on the bimah at my congregation, helping to run the Torah reading. I find it very rewarding – not perhaps as rewarding as I find reading a portion myself, but certainly involving less of my personal time at home trying to prep for participating in the service, and certainly less nerve-wracking when one bears in mind that I have extreme stage fright, even after reading Torah for nearly thirty years.
We don’t get a lot of opportunities to go to synagogue where it’s not going to matter if the Monster makes a lot of noise. Simchat Torah is one of those occasions.
I mean, let’s face it. The holiday’s all about dancing around with the scrolls, folks making noise and waving flags and singing and dancing… Continue reading