Whoops, I Almost Forgot…

Whoops, I Almost Forgot…

This morning, my 3-year-old, Yoni, was wearing his red “Snooze-asaurus” t-shirt, the one with the goofy green dinosaur on it. And 5-year-old Yaakov was wearing his orange “Cool Dude” t-shirt, the one with the waving grizzly bear with red sunglasses

And then, on the way to Yaakov and Yoni’s gan, I noticed that all the other kids I saw on the street, the girls and the boys, were dressed up in nice white shirts. Like Yaakov and Yoni were a red and orange paint stain on a freshly spread Shabbat tablecloth.

After seeing at least a dozen white-shirted kids I finally turned to my 16-year-old, who was with us, and asked, “Why all the white shirts today?”

“It’s the 1st day of Rosh Chodesh today,” the beginning of the new month.

“Ohhhh, I forgot!”

And my mind wandered back…

To 20 years of my life when, aside from Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, and Passover, the Jewish calendar was unknown to me.

And all that I missed!

20 Succots
20 Tu b’Shvats
20 Purims
20 Lag Baomers
20 Shavuots
20 Tisha B’Avs
20 Eluls

And more Shabbats and days of Chol HaMoed than I care to think about…

Oh, and Rosh Chodeshes too. All of the Rosh Chodeshes I missed!

And I almost missed another one today…

But thank G-d, I live among
Mothers and fathers and children
For whom the Jewish calendar is so alive
That even the most forgetful Jew cannot forget who he (or, as the case may be, she) is.

Here’s a video of 650 of those white-shirted girls at my daughter’s school–who celebrated Israel’s 70th birthday this erev Rosh Chodesh with a toe-tapping “Kulunoam” song.

6 comments

  1. so beautiful to see bnot yisrael singing with love for eretz yisrael! a good chodesh!

  2. Lol! That is so me! Also not growing up frum I totally forget the white shirts!

  3. Gorgeous! Brought tears to my eyes. I live how the girls were jumping up and down with joy and enthusiasm. Also bring BT I compare what non frum girls would be doing at this age and going to concerts of boy bands (and jumping up and down) and instead they are so holy and pure. Beautiful.

  4. Simi Shain

    Being a ffb, even I forgot white shirts on the day they took class pictures. It’s good it’s kid #8 ka”h and I didn’t stress about it too much!

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