L.A. Revisited -- Again, and Again, and Again...

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The other night, while at the dinner Yom Tov table, I was relaying some story about my trip to California this past June. My oldest child piped up: "If you were there almost 5 months ago, why are you still talking about it?"

His reaction definitely made me think. Yes, I've talked about the trip before, but not excessively, because a few short days upon my return home, we left for a family road trip to Florida. My children had their own memories to make and their own stories to tell.

But had my son been right in his perception of why continue to talk about something if it's long past, then we could take that rationale a step further. We would just have experiences that were self-enclosed, lived for the moment and then close the book on them and shelve them for permanence, not to take the book off the shelf and skim through it from time to time. What kind of life would that be?

My son sees me telling California stories or details I might've forgotten to mention earlier, but does not realize that he himself reminisces, as well. He and his brother and sister continue to remind one another of certain rides at Universal Studios, or the day they watched a young shark being caught off a pier, or the afternoon we spent swimming in the Atlantic Ocean at Cocoa Beach, or the magnificent public fireworks we witnessed on July 4th. These children relish the moments, relish the memories, and their excitement over remembered details is still very evident.

Yes, I will relive my California trip again and again...at least until I make a return trip there and create new memories and have new stories to tell.

Blogger Spell Check Needs Some Lessons in Judaism

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Doesn't Miss Spell Check (c) look like a nice Jewish bubby? She'll cook some chicken soup with lokshen (noodles) or knaidlech (matzah balls) for you and will sit you down at her kitchen table to eat while she goes over your work.

I use spell check in some of my work for work, in my writing of articles, etc. I don't use it for blogging (actually forgetting that it's available for use) normally, but yesterday I used it for my Simchat Torah entry when I noticed a typo once I'd already hit "publish"-- I corrected the error, then reviewed the rest of my work with the spell check service.

It is very clear to me that Blogger needs to be updated and informed re. Jewish references. Here in black is what I typed, followed in red by what was suggested to me as a change. My comments follow in brackets.

Get ready for a few potential laughs or rolling of the eyes.


simchat -- smacked (Simchat means "happy" ; "smack" can make you very happy, thus adding to the joy of Simchat Torah.)

chagim -- chasm (Boy, did the chagim this year, September-October, create a chasm at my workplace between my boss and I.)

shuls -- souls (Shuls/synagogues are filled with countless souls, some more lost than others, but all gathered together as a community in service to G-d).

shteibel -- satiable (The shnapps and herring and egg kichel found in shteibels help ease congregants' most satiable appetites for "Kiddush, kiddush!")

shul -- Saul (I guess that at least one Saul can be found in every shul.)

minyan -- Minoan (A minyan/quorum goes back centuries, but I'm not certain if all the way back to the Minoan age.)

Torahs -- Tories (Torahs and Canadian politics--what a mix!)

hagbah -- highboy (Blogger spell check misses the mark, but gets a point for trying. "High" is the commonality; hold the Torah high.)

daven -- deafen (Is this subliminal suggestion? When members daven/pray in certain congregations, it can be rather deafening, can't it?)

mechitzah -- necktie's (Are these what separate the men from the women in a shul? Blogger spell check couldn't even get the spelling right--how good a spell checker can it be?)

*aliyah -- Allah (What a bizarre suggestion as a word replacement. You know what? You keep your Allah, and we'll keep our aliyah -- to the Torah and to Israel!)

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Happy Birthday to my lovely, sweet and gentle mother. Bis 120!