Today, my father is a man.
Apr. 2nd, 2005 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasToday was my Dad's bar mitzvah. As many of you know, my Dad is a ger, and converted in 1998 or so. The trigger was that he realized that he wanted to have an aliyah at my aufruf before my wedding. So he converted, and he and Mom had a Jewish wedding.
But he never read from the Torah.
B'nai Or, the Jewish Renewal hippy Jewish community that my folks belong to, and my mother is a longtime lay leader for, did an adult b'nai mitzvah class this past year. And Dad, and five other people, signed up for it, and read from the Torah today.
It was wonderful.
So, Lis and I were there. Obviously, Dad and Mom were there. My sister came up from Florida, and one of her best friends from high school came, as well. The Koler-Foxes were there, Cherie, Everett, and their three kids, Akiva (a grad student in Dramaturgy at Harvard), Leora (who I believe is at Brandeis, but I'm not certain), and Ezra (I think Oberlin, but I could be wrong about that one, too). All four of my grandparents were there. Dad's brother, his non-Australian sister, and her husband were there. Ruth-Ann was there (a beloved friend of the family for years and years and years). And Judy Stickter was there. Who is the Adult When I Was Growing Up Most Responsible for Allowing Me To End Up As Reasonably Well Adjusted As A Geek-Adult, Myself.
I think all Geek kids and teenagers should have an adult geek mentor -- she was mine. And still is. One of them, anyway. I have got to start dragging her to cons and stuff -- y'all will love her dearly, like I do.
Leila, Lis, and I stood when Dad was reading from the Torah. Just, y'know, to show respect for him. Afterwards, some people came up to us and said that, when they saw Leila's face, and mine, and saw that we were both crying tears of joy, it made them cry, too.
There was a WONDERFUL oneg afterwards. You know the kind of dismal onegs that you usually get after services? This wasn't one of them. This was stuffed grape leaves, cheesecake, kasha varnishkes, cheese plates with cheddar and smoked gouda, brie and chevre, cookies, brownies, grapes, veggies, fruit. . . a lot of it looked homemade. REALLY good food. Much fun, much goodness.
Then we went back to my folks' house to hang out more. Judy didn't come back to the house with us, because it's been raining all day, and she wanted to be home in case the sump pump needed to be manually started -- she lives in the part of Arlington that tends to go underwater far too often. You ever notice that the area around Lake Street tends to have far too much of a tendency to take that literally?
But the rest of us headed back. Since it was only three blocks out of our way, we did a long-overdue stop at Outer Limits in Waltham to pick up comics, then headed over. When we came in, I was tackled by a niece and nephew, Winter and Drew.
Their mom was also there, but she didn't tackle me. Because she respects me more than that.
Drew is four, now, and knows most of the Pokeman evolution patterns. I'm impressed.
I taught Winter and Drew to play dominoes. We played two games: Winter won one, and Drew won one.
Mom bought Drew one of these.
On the way home, Lis and I stopped at a Newbury Comics and picked up a DVD of The Specials, a movie about a moderately lame superhero team, on a day when they're not fighting crime, and are just sitting around the headquarters getting on each other's nerves, and having their lives fall apart. And some other DVDs, too.
But he never read from the Torah.
B'nai Or, the Jewish Renewal hippy Jewish community that my folks belong to, and my mother is a longtime lay leader for, did an adult b'nai mitzvah class this past year. And Dad, and five other people, signed up for it, and read from the Torah today.
It was wonderful.
So, Lis and I were there. Obviously, Dad and Mom were there. My sister came up from Florida, and one of her best friends from high school came, as well. The Koler-Foxes were there, Cherie, Everett, and their three kids, Akiva (a grad student in Dramaturgy at Harvard), Leora (who I believe is at Brandeis, but I'm not certain), and Ezra (I think Oberlin, but I could be wrong about that one, too). All four of my grandparents were there. Dad's brother, his non-Australian sister, and her husband were there. Ruth-Ann was there (a beloved friend of the family for years and years and years). And Judy Stickter was there. Who is the Adult When I Was Growing Up Most Responsible for Allowing Me To End Up As Reasonably Well Adjusted As A Geek-Adult, Myself.
I think all Geek kids and teenagers should have an adult geek mentor -- she was mine. And still is. One of them, anyway. I have got to start dragging her to cons and stuff -- y'all will love her dearly, like I do.
Leila, Lis, and I stood when Dad was reading from the Torah. Just, y'know, to show respect for him. Afterwards, some people came up to us and said that, when they saw Leila's face, and mine, and saw that we were both crying tears of joy, it made them cry, too.
There was a WONDERFUL oneg afterwards. You know the kind of dismal onegs that you usually get after services? This wasn't one of them. This was stuffed grape leaves, cheesecake, kasha varnishkes, cheese plates with cheddar and smoked gouda, brie and chevre, cookies, brownies, grapes, veggies, fruit. . . a lot of it looked homemade. REALLY good food. Much fun, much goodness.
Then we went back to my folks' house to hang out more. Judy didn't come back to the house with us, because it's been raining all day, and she wanted to be home in case the sump pump needed to be manually started -- she lives in the part of Arlington that tends to go underwater far too often. You ever notice that the area around Lake Street tends to have far too much of a tendency to take that literally?
But the rest of us headed back. Since it was only three blocks out of our way, we did a long-overdue stop at Outer Limits in Waltham to pick up comics, then headed over. When we came in, I was tackled by a niece and nephew, Winter and Drew.
Their mom was also there, but she didn't tackle me. Because she respects me more than that.
Drew is four, now, and knows most of the Pokeman evolution patterns. I'm impressed.
I taught Winter and Drew to play dominoes. We played two games: Winter won one, and Drew won one.
Mom bought Drew one of these.
On the way home, Lis and I stopped at a Newbury Comics and picked up a DVD of The Specials, a movie about a moderately lame superhero team, on a day when they're not fighting crime, and are just sitting around the headquarters getting on each other's nerves, and having their lives fall apart. And some other DVDs, too.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 05:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 05:29 am (UTC)So Jewish, they say it twice. :-)
Mazal tov.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 05:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 05:31 am (UTC)My stepfather's rule for driving on rainy days is "Never take a road with a body of water in the name", for precisely that reason.
Mazel tov to your dad! I'm really glad it went well.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 05:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 06:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 06:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 03:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-03 06:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 01:08 pm (UTC)How to avoid a flood
Date: 2005-04-04 02:49 pm (UTC)But, seriously, ... David's bar mitzvah was one of the most moving religious celebrations I've been privileged to share. It was the culmination of a journey he's been on for many years. One Sunday, twenty-five years ago, David and I were fixing the porch roof. Our neighbor came over to complain about the noise. David completely disarmed the man by his calm and gentle response. One thing he said was that "We can't work on the roof on Saturday because we're Jewish." Not "my wife is Jewish", or "my family is Jewish", but "We're Jewish". That evening, I told Matia that one day David would convert, because he'd already done so in his heart. And it was his heart that responded to the catalyst of Ian and Lis' wedding, to take him the final step to conversion and then on to his bar mitzvah. What a wonderful day!
Re: How to avoid a flood
Date: 2005-04-04 02:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-04-04 06:55 pm (UTC)