Children, temple, and chocolate. The story of my life.

1) My sister Odelia is here for a visit!  She's awesome with the kids and makes fantastic Israeli salads.  Hooray!

2) There is nothing like starting one's day with a rousing version of "Shake Your Booty!" and "Who's got ruach? [spirit]" with 5-10 year old campers at 9am morning circle.

3) At a meeting with a potential religious school family, I won the kid over by casually mentioning that we have a gaga pit in the playground.  His parents had no clue what he was talking about.  My campers love it though - as they have for years.  I had no idea it was just a Jewish thing though until I read this article!  Jewish Camps Spawn a U.S. Playground Hit

4) Reason #895635 I love my husband: he's been making me chai tea every morning and putting it in the thermos for me to take to work.  The only downside is, it's so good that I finish it every day by the time I pull up in the parking lot!

5) Work is amazing but still intense.  I'm so beat by the time I get home that it's all I can do to read a book.  So the humorous Naptime Is the New Happy Hour: And Other Ways Toddlers Turn Your Life Upside Down is the very best present Jonathan could have gotten me.  The reason?  Our one-month anniversary of moving to Sacramento.

6) I was preparing to teach today's Torah study earlier this week, and had the Talmud and other books strewn about me.  But I was so disappointed, I had one book in mind that I knew would be perfect as a resource, I could visualize the cover exactly.  The problem was, I could picture exactly where to find it on the shelf at the HUC library.

7) One of my favorite professors at HUC in Israel wrote a fascinating take on how American Jews teach Israel and Jewish identity.  Some highlights from his article to tempt you:

Young Jewish leaders are shifting away from a Jewish identity focused on Israel, peoplehood and community toward Jewishness as a personal spiritual journey, disconnected from the collective, unaware of the centrality of the land of Israel to Jewish history. A recent article by Daniel Gordis bemoans these weakening ethnic and national ties, and concludes that the implications of this reality for Israel are profoundly troubling... [But] expressing frustration with the weakening of ‘tribal’ ties to the Jewish people and Israel, and insisting that Israel is a perfect one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges of Jewish identity in an open reality, is counter-productive... If we acknowledge the cultural and generational context from which young Jewish leaders come, and focus on the need to help them find meaning and relevance in the land and state of Israel, we have the greatest chance of enabling them to develop and internalize a genuine connection. 

8)  Even when my children drive me crazy, I still try to value them for who they are.  Case in point: Xander was put on time-out multiple times for hitting his brother today.  But besides learning that yelling his full name really does make me feel better and make him pay more attention, I learned that he's full of empathy.  Tonight, an hour after the kids went to bed, I heard screaming and ran into their room.  Ari was thrashing on his mattress and had woken up Xander.  I asked, exasperated (since I'd already spent 40 minutes putting them to sleep), "what happened?!" fully expecting Xander to be grumpy, blame Ari for waking him up, or be mean.  But instead, he said very simply and quietly, "Ari got scared."  I thought that was so kind of him - he was compassionate, even when he had no reason to be.

9) Simcha loves being outside.  He and Osher chill in our backyard all afternoon, taking cat naps as only lazy tabbys can.

10) Andi's unveiling is on Sunday - I can't believe it's been that long since she passed away.  In her honor, I think I need to go shopping.  Ingredients must follow.  Because these chocolate chip cookie dough truffles desperately need to be made!