Some things that make me happy

1. When I left the house this morning the light was spectacular.

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2. I had to deliver something to my synagogue. I was greeted by this.

There is something about the reflection of light through stained glass that is nearly always better than the stained glass itself.

3. I had done so much cooking before Rosh HaShanah that most of our meals during the first days of Sukkot will just be pulled out of the freezer. I am cooking a big chicken soup in the slow cooker and have two chickens in the oven, but they took so little effort that it almost does not feel like actual cooking.

4. I remembered to scan these two seasonally appropriate photos.

My sisters and I in front of our house on Presidents Lane showing off our lulav and etrog. Because I am the youngest I have strong visceral memories of wearing each of the garments in the photo.

My older son just walked by and commented that he looked cute in a skirt. My son and I looked remarkably alike as little kids. Those of you who knew my son as a little kid just need to visually plop a baseball cap on this photo of me and you will understand what I mean.

Chag Sameach!

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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...

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