Repent All Ye Sinners

Good Yontif!

For the non-Jews reading this blog that's Yiddish for Happy Holidays (and for my shiksah sister in law Keli ... that is Yittan for "nice shoes" ... don't ask!) 

This past Wednesday was the second half of the Jewish High Holidays ... Yom Kippur. It's the day that Jews get together as a group and ask for forgiveness for all the sins from the past year. The non-Jewish alternative, of course, is to go every Sunday (like my wife)  or whenever you want to go to talk about how badly you screwed up and ask for forgiveness. I understand that works just as well.

I celebrated my sins with Sammy at Menorah Manor.

There was a slight change in schedule when I arrived. Sam was still in bed.

"Dad are you going to services today?"

"What?"

"I said are you going to services today?"

"What time is it?"

"It's 10:00."

"What? It's too early."

"Dad, services are at 10 o'clock."

"I know."

"Well ... let's get you dressed. There are lots of sins I have to get rid of today."

It takes pretty much an army of nurses to get him washed up and dressed. He was whisked into the bathroom, washed and dried and all I heard was him complaining about his shoes.

One of the nurses came out. "Sam says his new shoes are missing and he wants to wear them."

We looked high and low .... the room is all of 6 feet in all directions so it was a quick search. Nothing. No new shoes.

"I just bought those, "Sam bellowed. "They are expensive. How could they disappear?" (Slight exaggeration. We bought them from a catalogue he loves. They were about $20.)

I sat down on the footstool he uses to watch TV and just shook my head.

"Here they are Sam," One of the nurses said. "Your son was sitting on them."

The shoes were peeking out of the bottom of the footstool ... the only place we didn't look.

Sam rolled his chair over to me. "Joel ... why did you sit on them? Didn't you see them?"

Trick question. I wasn't gonna fall for that ... so ... we just put his shoes on and rolled him downstairs.

Services were already under way lead by Rabbi Leah. She's a ball of fire ... all 4'10" of her ... and she has really kept things hopping. Hard to not smile when she talks.

In her sermon, she mentioned that it wasn't too late to make a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. No matter what age ... you can still fulfill your Jewish heritage (usually done when you turn 13). She asked how many have recently gone through Bat Mitzvah classes with her and about three hands went up.

She told the story of one woman who apparently made her Bat Mitzvah at Menorah Manor before her 93rd birthday.

She passed away soon afterward.

There is always a lot of chatter during services. Mostly from residents that can't hear what's going on. Sammy usually is a ringleader ... socializing and hearing very little. He was pretty quiet this year ... happy to have his shoes, I guess.

I glanced over to make sure he was still awake and listening.

He was.