A note from Melissa: Tani has taken an interest in the Torah and the drama of the Torah service...what greater joy for a rabbi? This morning, I shared with him the little Torah that I received as a kid. It's about 3 inches tall and has the entire Torah printed on it and rolled up like a real Torah. It's not exactly a toy for a rambunctious 3 year old, as the paper is thin, so I'm staying close by helping him with it. I'd like to find a Torah that opens that's more child friendly-- perhaps one that's laminated. For now, it will be for supervised play. He's very sweet with the Torah and slowly learning to care for our sacred objects. We made a little ark for the Torah and covered the coffee table with a cloth so he could read Torah. I also found a kippah he likes in a drawer-- it has an image from outer space on it. We also found a really cool yad that I acquired when I helped a cantor clean out his office at a nursing home years ago. It is hand-carved olive wood with an ivory top, and it's shape reflects the space theme. (by the way, Neysa and I watched the new Star Trek movie last night, which was a lot of fun-- she's sleeping in). We also took out a bunch of playmobil people and told the story of the beginning of Moshe's life--Tani found a bowl in his play kitchen to serve as the ark where Moshe was placed by his mother.
I have been teaching Tani the chanting from the Torah service before the ark is opened, the "Ein camocha." I realized this was important to do when he was called up to open the ark at shul and he was running around before the ark was opened. Tani's love for Torah is very moving to me-- that he's showing interest and helping to reawaken my own love of Torah. We generally go to Dorshei Derech, the Reconstructionist minyan at GJC; however, I'm thinking we'll start taking him to the main sanctuary for the Torah service. We were there for a few minutes yesterday and he loved it. It's also special for me to be in there with him, as Neysa and I got married on the bimah in there.
Another feature of the main sanctuary is that it becomes a space ship when the rabbis aren't there...a really cool place to explore after services. I love that he is taking ownership of his synagogue-- I did that as a kid and Los Alamos Jewish Center was a second home. I even slept there once on Yom Kippur during a snow storm.
