A Shabbat to remember: pinatas, praying mantises, planes, and deep theology (yep, you read that right)

Friday night was Shabbat in the park, right across from temple.

Saturday morning was a birthday party at, coincidentally, that same park.

There was pizza and cake (the standards) but also a pinata.

 Ari doing his best.

Xander was the hit of the town; he decapitated the pinata!  After his second swing, the horse head flew right off and the body (with all the candy intact) flew right up into the air.  This is the moment post-beheading where he's looking at the upper right to see if any candy would fall.  Alas, it did not.  That was good though, as it meant all the kids got an extra turn at bat.

Also at this party, Jonathan became the Pied Piper when for some reason, a praying mantis decided to perch itself on his wrist.  I wish I had gotten a picture, he had about 8 kids surrounding him while he gave them a lesson on the anatomy and feeding habits of praying mantises.  The best was overhearing another parent talking to their son, "Kai, go run and see Xander's Daddy!  He captured a bug!!"

Later that evening the younger set stayed with Jonathan while I went to temple.  First we had Havdallah, the ceremony closing out Shabbat.  It officially begins when one can see three stars in the sky... and I was highly amused when two out of our three initial stars turned out to be planes.  The senior rabbi helped everyone out by explaining something crucial to the congregation: we only count stars if they aren't moving!

Following Havdallah, I taught the study session for 60+ people preceding the S'lichot service, the penitential service kicking off the High Holiday season.  S'lichot is all about praying to God for forgiveness for what one has done in the past year, and the prayer book is very specific in its conception of God... but very often, the God of the prayer book is NOT what people relate to.  So my lesson was titled, "What Does God Mean to You?" and it was an interactive, pick-from-over-45 statements (with the pieces of paper pinned in envelopes to the wall) of what you believed God was.  All the statements came from seven different Jewish theologies, from Biblical to pantheism to religious existentialism to mysticism, and once everyone had created their own theology, we talked about where everyone was on the spectrum.  Some people were shocked by where they fell, others felt good just putting a label to their beliefs.  The session went very well, and I felt honored that so many people shared so much of themselves with such a large group.

It was a very full two days, to say the least.  And now we prepare for Rosh Hashanah tonight... shana tovah, Happy New Year, to everyone who celebrates!*


*Addendum:  We decided that full-on preparation was just too much, but we set a beautiful table with all our finery, got yummy dinner food from Boston Market (brisket! chicken! dill potatoes!  green beans! etc!), round honey and raisin challah from a local bakery, apple crisp for dessert, and said all the appropriate blessings... the kids fell deeply asleep soon after dinner, and I waddled my way to services stuffed to the gills.  Ah, the New Year. :)