So, all my neighbors owe me big-time. See, I spent Friday shoving around 300 pounds of blacktop patch to create a berm at the top of my driveway, getting my drywell dug out, and sand-bagging the crawlspace in the backyard, then on Saturday, I cut short my one-and-only chance to celebrate with a dear friend on one of the most important days of his life, all because we were supposed to get the worst flooding since the hundred years flood in 1996. Result: Arlington got maybe a quarter-inch of rain over 24 hours. Sigh.
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!
How to avoid a flood
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!