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"Excuse me, sir, are you Jewish?"
I'm writing this from my parents' house, where we're spending the night in preparation to go apple picking tomorrow! This is the third year I'll be going with ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee and the second year with Laila. It's a regular tradition at this point!
Monday and Tuesday were Rosh Hashanah, and we went as a family to services. The real draw for Laila was going to be the petting zoo featuring a goat that Mishkan's director of programs said was going to be there, so I was surprised when we arrived to find that there were no animals! Without that, the street fair had a lot of activities that would have been great if Laila were a couple years older--making paper crafts, drawing scenes from Torah, that kind of thing--but aren't so useful to someone Laila's age, so we walked around a bit, went to a nearby combo bike repair shop + cafe called Heritage Bikes and Coffee where I got some delicious avocado toast and saw a few other people who were obviously on their way to services stop in, and then went to services ourselves. Laila loved the singing but by this point she was very tired, so we stayed for about half of the Torah service and then went home to get a sleepy baby to bed.
After she woke up from her nap, I took her to the lake to do tashliḥ, the ritual casting away of our sins, as referenced in Micah:
On the way back, I passed by a bench with two old women sitting on it and an old man standing behind them, speaking some Eastern European language. They waved at Laila and I had Laila wave back, and in English they asked me a few questions about her. When they asked if she could walk, I said "almost" and held one of Laila's hands as she walked over to the women and immediately tried to get a hug. The woman Laila was hugging asked, "She is not afraid?" and I answered "No, she loves hugs," and then the man, who had leaned over to get a closer look at the baby, noticed my ✡️ necklace and said "Happy New Year"--it turned out that they were Russian Jews!
I've lived in Chicago for over a decade, but on the way back home, I experienced my first "Excuse me sir, are you Jewish?" Two young Chadadniks were hanging out on the corner, maybe trying to get people going too and from tashliḥ, and they asked me if I had had a chance to hear the shofar in shul that morning. As it turned out, I had not--we had to leave before it was blown--so they took me a bit away from the main street, we said the blessings, and the older one blew the shofar. A blessing indeed that on the day we couldn't say in services, Laila and I still got to hear the shofar.
Tuesday we mostly relaxed at home. Laila slept in until almost 8 a.m. after the disrupted sleep of the previous day, so we gave her a normal day.
Wednesday was Tzom Gedaliah, the fast in honor of the assassination of the last Jewish governor of Judea before the Babylonian Exile, which normally wouldn't be worth much comment since I just get up before dawn to eat and otherwise it's a normal day. It was not a normal day this time, however, since this Wednesday was Employee Appreciation Day and the AMA had rented out a local restaurant/entertainment center called Pinstripes. That meant there was fancy buffet food and drinks, none of which I could eat, and which I couldn't even take home because there's a health code rule that prevents takeout boxes from buffets.
I did get to talk to one of my new coworkers who started a couple weeks ago when all the tables were full and she sat next to me in the stuffed chairs on the side of the room. We mostly talked about Laila and about my coworker's plan to go to Japan with her partner.
Apple picking tomorrow! 🍎🍏 I'll write about that after it happens.
sashagee and the second year with Laila. It's a regular tradition at this point!Monday and Tuesday were Rosh Hashanah, and we went as a family to services. The real draw for Laila was going to be the petting zoo featuring a goat that Mishkan's director of programs said was going to be there, so I was surprised when we arrived to find that there were no animals! Without that, the street fair had a lot of activities that would have been great if Laila were a couple years older--making paper crafts, drawing scenes from Torah, that kind of thing--but aren't so useful to someone Laila's age, so we walked around a bit, went to a nearby combo bike repair shop + cafe called Heritage Bikes and Coffee where I got some delicious avocado toast and saw a few other people who were obviously on their way to services stop in, and then went to services ourselves. Laila loved the singing but by this point she was very tired, so we stayed for about half of the Torah service and then went home to get a sleepy baby to bed.
After she woke up from her nap, I took her to the lake to do tashliḥ, the ritual casting away of our sins, as referenced in Micah:
Who is a G-d like You,she was so fascinated by the waves against the walkway that she didn't even try to eat the bread when I put some in her hands! Only a tiny bit, though--babies don't have any sins they need to cast away.
Forgiving iniquity
And remitting transgression;
Who has not maintained His wrath forever
Against the remnant of His own people,
Because He loves graciousness!
He will take us back in love;
He will cover up our iniquities,
You will hurl all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
-Micah 17:18-19
On the way back, I passed by a bench with two old women sitting on it and an old man standing behind them, speaking some Eastern European language. They waved at Laila and I had Laila wave back, and in English they asked me a few questions about her. When they asked if she could walk, I said "almost" and held one of Laila's hands as she walked over to the women and immediately tried to get a hug. The woman Laila was hugging asked, "She is not afraid?" and I answered "No, she loves hugs," and then the man, who had leaned over to get a closer look at the baby, noticed my ✡️ necklace and said "Happy New Year"--it turned out that they were Russian Jews!
I've lived in Chicago for over a decade, but on the way back home, I experienced my first "Excuse me sir, are you Jewish?" Two young Chadadniks were hanging out on the corner, maybe trying to get people going too and from tashliḥ, and they asked me if I had had a chance to hear the shofar in shul that morning. As it turned out, I had not--we had to leave before it was blown--so they took me a bit away from the main street, we said the blessings, and the older one blew the shofar. A blessing indeed that on the day we couldn't say in services, Laila and I still got to hear the shofar.
Tuesday we mostly relaxed at home. Laila slept in until almost 8 a.m. after the disrupted sleep of the previous day, so we gave her a normal day.
Wednesday was Tzom Gedaliah, the fast in honor of the assassination of the last Jewish governor of Judea before the Babylonian Exile, which normally wouldn't be worth much comment since I just get up before dawn to eat and otherwise it's a normal day. It was not a normal day this time, however, since this Wednesday was Employee Appreciation Day and the AMA had rented out a local restaurant/entertainment center called Pinstripes. That meant there was fancy buffet food and drinks, none of which I could eat, and which I couldn't even take home because there's a health code rule that prevents takeout boxes from buffets.
I did get to talk to one of my new coworkers who started a couple weeks ago when all the tables were full and she sat next to me in the stuffed chairs on the side of the room. We mostly talked about Laila and about my coworker's plan to go to Japan with her partner.Apple picking tomorrow! 🍎🍏 I'll write about that after it happens.
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I just saw someone on r/Judaism post about how their company scheduled a DEI training about microaggressions on...Yom Kippur, so I guess I got off lightly.
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Shana tova!
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It was such a lovely chance meeting, and they were so happy to see Laila's smiles.
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