First Jewish Blogger

Yom Kippur 2006

2005-10-13T23:28:00.000-04:00

Whoever said Yom Kippur is 1 day. That person did not have a job or kids. Life is too busy for one to not consider Yom Kippur being a 2 day holiday. I try to go to shul Erev Yom Kippur morning, then to the mikveh for my once a year splish splash, and then of course you have to eat. Oh! You also want to work? Luckily I work for myself and I am able to take off any day I want (my clients know that I will be off for the Jewish holidays.) Point is that even though our nanny came and took care of the kids, I tried to do some work from home but it really didn't work out. Yes I got to answer a few emails and make a few phone calls but it certainly wasn't a full work day.

And then before you know it, its time to light candles and go off to shul. This year was a little different. The kids are now 1 and 3 and that means that we need to really take care of them. Let me rephrase that. When you have an infant, your baby goes with you whereever you go. When you have children that walk, they will 5 times out of 10 want to walk the other way. So in the past, Danielle has taken the kids to her parents house and I am left to my lonesome to go and atone for my sins alone in the small Sephardic minyan on 97th street. But this year, YK came out on a wed/thursday so there really wasn't an opportunity to go away. Danielle went to work and came back just in time to eat and then we were all off to the same shul.

So at night we all went as a family to KOE and hung out there. Yes we got some davening in but mostly were distracted by the kids in the playroom. At least there is a playroom though. At the sephardic minyan there is no such thing so that makes it difficult. But that's the opportunity cost for me. I can be with my wife and kids on the holy of holies or I can be alone at shul. And what is more satisfying or gratifying? Well, you can't compare. I love to be with my kids all of the time. And what about God? Well, I guess I love to be with God also but kids are my greatest joy on earth, they are also a distraction. Realistically, how can you lead a totally observant Jewish life all of the time? It's impossible! You need to care for your kids and you need to care for your soul. And they are both 24 hour/day jobs.

So what I am trying to say is that Judaism is a juggling and balancing act. Yes I could go to shul from 9pm all night long until the kids wake up at 6am. But then where is the exposure to Jewish ritual and practice?

All in all, I think you have to take it all in stride. So this morning I got to go to Shacharit and Mussaf at the Sephardic Minyan and then got a 2 hour break and then back to KOE. Danielle actually went to Ansche Chesed where they had a kids tot service fro 10:45 - 12. And then she went to KOE. The best thing about KOE is that they have that extra room. You don't get to daven but since we have so many friends we do get to tag team and watch out for each other. Like tonight I got to watch my friends 1 year old for 20 minutes while they davened. And then they did the same for me.

And of course the kids aren't fasting so I end up feeding and playing with the kids for most of the evening, essentially missing Mincha and Neilah. But that's ok because I love my kids more than my Judaism. But I want them to have a Jewish identity. I guess that all comes later. For now I am just going to enjoy.

Oh - and I also wanted to mention that my Judaica Store is back up and running. It had been down for about a month when I swtiched credit card processors and changed from another company to Authorize.net. So please give a visit to the best hanukkah and jewish store on the web. www.judaicastore.com So the funny thing is that we got 3 orders today on Yom Kippur, more than on other days when people are suppoed to be working. So what does that mean? More people surf the web on their days off? Or maybe people actually are working at work so they don't have time to purchase things on the web or surf?

Gmar Chatimah Tovah
Shanah Tovah
Stay tuned for my next rant coming upfor Sukkot.

Did I mention how much it has been raining lately? I was totally prepared though. I basically wore clothes to shul that I knew would get wet and brought an extra pair of pants and my canvas Yom Kippur shoes.

And of course I forgot to mention that our phil and teds stroller got a flat tire. I was debating whether to be even later to shul to repair it at the bike shop on 96th street but in the end I realized that I would rather go to shul and deal with it later or tomorrow.

Ok - lastly. Don't forget to also check out the www.JewishWeb.com for all of your local Jewish resources.

2005-10-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

Rosh Hashanah 2006. I think an "Oy Vey" is appropriate. This year we went out to Danielle's folks. Every year we have the pleasure of remembering where we went the year before. I am sure a lot of you have the same dillema... which parents or what family to go to for what holiday. That was the theme of the Rabbi's sermon. Just kidding. Anyway, it was great to be with Danielle's family. The kids love to be with their cousins. It's a complete "shovav showdown." (For those of you who are hebew challenged, "shovav" means "menace.") But the kids get cuter and I appreciate them more and more.

I guess I mostly appreciated taking the Long Island Rail Road out to Glen Cove more than anything. I have a confession to make here publicly. I am not the most ontime person. It is something I have been working on year after year (and maybe this year things will really be different), but I have been known to be late to many things in my life. My point is that this year I suggested that I take the train out to the Island instead of waiting for Danielle to come home from work and then pick us all up and THEN get stuck in traffic and THEN get all frustrated that we left too late. Oh no. This year I actually caught an off-peak train, had room for me and the kids to sit, got to Penn Station on time, transferred at Jamaica and even had everyone on the train comment on how cute and well behaved the kids were. Ahhh, what a pleasure.

As for the services, I am mostly unhappy wherever I am for High Holiday services. I can't win in America. There is only 1 true place that I am happy praying on the Yamim Noraim. That is Jerusalem. The years I spent in the 90's in Jerusalem were by far the most spritually gratifying. I can't wait to get back.

Other things I must get back to writing about or topics I hope to fill in in the future are this past summer in Israel and cutting Isaac's hair when he turned 3 on the Tayelet in Talpiot.

Shanah Tovah everyone. Gmar Chatimah Tovah. May you all be inscribed in the book of life for the next year. Ad 120!

The First Jewish Blogger

2005-07-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

It really is amazing to me how many bloggers are out there. I was the first Jewish blogger and that is what I tell everyone. It started out as a newsletter of sorts but then became a passion. Then I actually thought I was doing a service for the Jewish community. Regardless, I still think that I am the first and if anyone out there wants to say I wasn't...well, that's ok with me. I mean, thats the whole point of blogging right. To become a second rate journalist writing about whatever comes to mind.

So while you are here, you might as well check out www.JewishWeb.com and then go to the way back machine at http://web.archive.org/web/*/jewishweb.com and you will see how many posts I have. But what I think I will do is post in chronological order. I don't know. We will see.

As for where I am today? I am still at www.salemglobal.com aka SalemGlobal Internet. We develop website marketing programs for companies to help drive traffic to their websites and add more to the bottom line.

As for the whole Jewish community and Judaica sites: www.judaicastore.com is still alive and kicking though summer is slow.