Traditions/Reinventions

When my dad taught me how to first wrap my tefilin almost 30 years ago, he mentioned that he wasn't 100% sure about the particular wrap that goes over the hand creating the right side of the letter Shin. He taught me to wrap it over my pinky but suspected that in reality it went under the pinky. Because he basically re-taught himself how to wrap many decades after his own bar-mitzvah, that detail was a little hazy for him. Since then I've noticed that I'm the only person in the whole Ashkenazi world that wraps that way. My dad noticed the same thing, even getting questioned about it over the years.

All these years I didn't mind going around with my own tradition, carried on directly from my dad's tradition. Not only didn't it bother me that I was carrying on a made up tradition, I kind of liked it. But as Yonah's bar mitzvah is getting closer, and I was going to be teaching him how to wrap his own tefilin, the idea of passing down a mistaken tradition seemed like a bad idea. So I questioned the Rav of our town about it and he confirmed that it was indeed mistaken, although "not the biggest deal." So for that past 3 weeks I have been wrapping the strap under my pinky instead of over. And now so does Yonah.

That may sound like a minor tweak, and really it is. But it's also not. For one thing, I have to be much more conscious of my wrapping - and at 5:45 in the a.m. consciousness can be tough to come by. Second, small though it may be, it's still changing a tradition passed on to me by my father. He took it well and is now wrapping the new/old way, too. Third, it brought home the power of questioning and the Jew's authority to make sure that what he is doing makes sense and not blindly following tradition.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to awaken my consciousness and to be an active participant in our traditions - passing them up and down the generational line.

Bookends

I'd say this week was big. But every week seems to be big nowadays. Big goings on. Big emotions. Big prospects. Big. But because I'm back to blogging, even if it's not necessarily bigger than the average week, I'm going to post about it.

Sunday found me and Batsheva in Tiberius signing for our new piece of land in Yonatan where we're going to build our new house. This in itself - buying land in the Land, planning a new home, paying lots of money - is big. But as I sat there at the exact same desk, in the exact same room, in the exact same lawyer's office that Leah and I signed for our first house in Yonatan just about ten years ago, I was struck again by how life, in all its full force, can keep moving you forward in a positive, constructive direction if you flow with it. The moment wasn't even bittersweet - it was completely late summer, juicy peach sweet. But somehow the flashbacks opened up a temporal looking glass and I could see in my minds eye the past, present and even some glimpses into the future, and I liked what I saw.

The lawyers office is right next to the Rambam's grave. Just like 10 years ago, we couldn't undertake such a massive endeavor without deep prayers, so we paid a visit to R' Moshe ben Maimon. Sitting at his kever brought me a deep sense of calm and harmony. The Rambam's logic and firm belief in Hashem and His world was just what I needed. Sitting at his grave reciting his 13 Principles of Faith, simple statements of not necessarily the simplest ideas, strengthened my own faith in what we are doing by selling our house and building a brand new one.

Yesterday, in a happy ying-yang balancing out of the week, brought me to the grave of the Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. In contrast to the logic of the Rambam, Rashbi, the accredited author of the Zohar, is associated with the flame of passion and exuberance. Davening by his kever for each of our family members, saying Tehilim, learning Torah, meditating, and witnessing the wonder of the People of Israel puts everything in perspective. I always leave the Rashbi like a freshly forged sword, still glowing but hard as steel and ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.

Next stop was picking up Yonah's tefilin from my buddy and Sofer who leaves next to Meron. That's another story.

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!

and...We're Back

Friends, after a 5 year hiatus, it feels like it's time to pick up the pen again and start blogging. No promises that it will continue, but today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow.

Since we last met, here is a quick re-cap.

Beginning of the school year 2011, my wife Leah was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
September 2011 through July 2012 Leah lived, loved, and grew valiantly until there was no more. She passed away on 23 July 2012 (ד' אב).
2012 - 2013 I was a single father raising 5 kids while trying to put the pieces back together. With Leah dying I not only lost my life partner but also my business partner. I didn't want to go back to fundraising without her, so a new direction fell into my lap - editing, translating, content writing.
Fall 2013 I decided to try dating again for the first time in forever (literally).
Two days after Yom Kippur 2013 I went out with a lovely lady named Batsheva. Our third date was at our house when Batsheva brought 5 of her 9 kids to our sukkah for a bbq.
On TU b'Shvat (January 16, 2014) we got married.
January 2014 until today Batsheva and I have been merging, blending, supporting, loving, holding, challenging, fighting our kids as we move forward in this huge and holy project.
Now I am searching for a new career path in life.
We are selling our current house, that Leah and I bought and planned to live in for 120 years, and Batsheva and I are planning our new dream house - one suitable and fitting for our dynamic and expanded troops.

I imagine that much of the future blog posts will focus on many of the above elements, but I hope it will also include politics, new/old Torah thoughts, insights into life in the Golan, pretty much anything. I'm also open to suggestions.

Looking forward.

First Post Underway

Who hasn't thought about starting a blog today?  Who hasn't told a hundred friends and acquaintances, "man, you should totally start a blog."  I'm guilty of both.  Here's my much belated foray into the world of blogging.

For my own sake, let me try to get straight why exactly this blog exists, in no particular order:

critical experience professionally
to get the story of the Golan out there
to get my story out there
great way to keep family and friends and future family and friends informed
therapy
drive traffic to my up and coming website on the Golan: Golan Sights
publicize what's going in and around the Golan
did I mention therapy?

So here's to regularity and consistency, oh, and an interesting blog.