TONIGHT IS TWELVE DAYS, WHICH IS ONE WEEK AND FIVE DAYS, OF THE OMER
Being Jewish means lighting Shabbat candles in a hotel room, on a train, once using two red Crayolas at a Friendly’s on a road trip with the kids, as stand-ins for candles.
It means my daughter calling me every Friday night for the last 12 years, no matter where she is, even from Cuba, to wish me Shabbat Shalom.
It means building a Sukkah with my dad and having my whole family pile in for pizza.
It means my husband and I cancelling a trip abroad when we belatedly realized it would fall during Rosh Hashanah.
Being Jewish and part of this community means friends, family, and neighbors walking me around the block on the last day of shiva after my mom’s death to end the period of mourning, and right into Shabbat dinner to begin life again.
