I’ll never forget the first roll call in fourth grade at the St. Fabian School.
“Levey, Hilary? [Pause] Really?!”
Yes, really. My father, who gifted me his last name, is clearly a Member of the Tribe (Levite, natch). But my parents decided to baptize and raise me as a Roman Catholic, like my mother.
I was a child interested in rituals and I loved weekly school mass when the priest wouldn’t just speak at us during his homily, but ask us questions. My hand was frequently up and I cherished the days when I was called on to answer a question. So it was no surprise that later, in my fourth grade year when the teacher asked who would like to help the priest by being an “altar boy,” my hand shot up.
“But, you’re a girl, you can’t do that,” said the same teacher who had already made me feel like I didn’t belong.
As I looked at the boys sitting around me–roughhousing, picking their noses, cheating off of my schoolwork–I wondered precisely how they were better suited to the task by virtue of having a Y chromosome (girls were welcomed as altar servers a few years later, in the early 90’s, but too late for me). I couldn’t figure out how or why an institution, let alone a religious one, could decide to exclude whole categories of people without knowing anything about them as individuals.
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Recently, someone asked me whether I liked Purim better than Halloween.
Traditionally
on Simchat Torah, children walk around the synagogue waving homemade
flags to help create a parade-like atmosphere. Whether or not you’re
making it to services, it’s always fun to wave a flag. Here’s a simple
and easy way to make one at home for kids of all ages.
I’ll
be honest: I used to generally try to avoid kids with special needs if I
could. Aside from the awkwardness of not knowing how to react or
interact, I also failed to understand how families of kids with severe
disabilities stayed sane. Feeding, dressing, washing, and changing older
kids’ diapers was not my idea of a good time, and I didn’t know how
they did it.
As
it turns out, there are lots of different kinds of honey out there.
Because bees suck nectar from all types of flowers, the honey can have a
very different taste. Assemble your family for a taste test. Go to the
local farmer’s market and buy two or three different kinds of honey.
(Not only are you supporting local agriculture, but you’re also showing
your kids where food comes from.) At home, arrange a smorgasbord of
foods to dip into the various kinds of honey—challah, apples, pretzels,
bananas, etc. Which honey goes best with which foods? When you find your
favorites, you can put them out at your Rosh Hashanah table. (Check
with your pediatrician, but generally honey is not recommended for
children under the age of 1.)
After
nearly a decade of practicing law, I embarked on a journey to become a
writer, causing a 180-degree shift in my life. I had to juggle being a
mom to two little humans and a canine, a wife, a lawyer, a daughter, a
friend, and now, a writer.