Doing my Civic Duty

A few weeks ago I got that familiar summons to do jury duty. Today was the day. I went downtown early this morning and took this photo of the Tweed Courthouse before I reported for jury duty.

The last couple of times I had jury duty I loved the officer of the court assigned to the jury room. He was outrageously funny. He made the process actually fun. He must have retired and he now has a replacement. She hasn’t had as many years to hone her materials her predecessor did, but she has a similar dry wit.

They have updated the informational introductory video. I was sort of looking forward to seeing the giant shoulder pads from the old video that was filmed at some point in the 1980’s.

The previous times I reported for jury duty the highlight of my experience was the beautiful speech made by the retired judge. In that speech he talked about how our judicial system is flawed, but it is the best and the most fair in the world. He talked about the only way for the system to be more fair was for us to take our jobs as jurors seriously. By the time his little talk was done I was dying to serve on a jury and do my part for truth justice and the American way.

The updated movie had the chief justice of New York State making a similar speech ( but he wasn’t as good as the retired judge speaking to us live).

Well, this time I was chosen for a jury. No, I am not going to break the law and discuss the case here or anywhere or with anyone for that matter.

But I am going to say is that I am impressed with how sober and serious the entire process is. It gives me faith that there can be justice within our judicial system.

I am not that much of a flag waver. There have been a few moments when fulfilling my civic duty I have been truly moved. I was moved to tears when each of my kids applied for their first library card. The New York Public Library has a contract for little kids to sign when they apply for their first card. That contract is written in simple words that clearly spell out their responsibilities and rights as library card holders. It’s a gorgeous document.

I was moved to tears when I pulled the lever for Geraldine Ferraro. Standing on the line that snaked east and west along 97th street from Amsterdam Avenue to Columbus Avenue and back again, in 2008 for Barak Obama’s first election was a deeply profound civic moment.

Being chosen to sit on a jury is another of those profound civic moments.

Comments

מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for giving life to all. I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...

Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my father’s chicken fricassee. If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it. My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid. I assumed that the dish was an invention of my father’s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed. A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I can’t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night. I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1) אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2) אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3) יָאֵר יְהֹ...

sarah in nyc

Search This Blog