Life at the Archives

My latest Archival project has been on "secularization and the rabbinate."  My client hired me to track how preaching, counseling, and education have evolved over the years, as taught by HUC.  I've been looking through the catalogs, and it's really interesting to see how the requirements of being a rabbi has changed.  For instance, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rabbis seemed more academic, with training all from books: heavy heavy loads of Talmud, Midrash, history, philosophy, etc.  Did you know that the very first Education professor at HUC wasn't hired until 1931?  The counseling aspect wasn't brought in until 1939, when they offered one class in "Elements of Pastoral Psychology."  When they offered a class the next year called "Methods of Personal Guidance,"  I was amused to read the fine print: "This course is offered at the request of the Cincinnati Christian Educators’ Association and is open only to ministers and professional religious workers."

 

It's so neat to track the development of the movement through history - like, after World War II when Judaism was in the midst of major changes itself, what with suburbia and new synagogues everywhere, there was a huge change in curriculum, with all of a sudden way less emphasis on strict Talmud/history stuff.  That one Education course from 1931?  In 1943 it got expanded to six seminars and a required class on religious school curriculum.  Post-war there was a whole new area called "Social Work" with offerings ranging from "social justice in traditional texts" to field courses where students volunteered with various local agencies.  You can also tell that Classical Reform and formal sermon-giving was on its way out - HUC dropped the six required "Elocution" classes and instead offered two classes in Public Speaking.  The huge "Homiletics" section became merged with academic learning, into "Midrash and Homiletics."  

I'm only in the 1950s now, and I intend to go all the way to the present.  I wonder when "Leadership and organizational management" classes began to be offered?  Or practicum courses like "Life Cycle Liturgy," where I learned how to officiate at a funeral?  I've really been enjoying it - I can't wait til my client actually publishes his paper to see the final product, and his overall analysis.

And of course I can't mention AJA work without mentioning my constant companion.  Ari has come with me the past few days, and will accompany me next week as well.  And by "with me" I mean that he sleeps on my chest in the wrap, plays with toys on the floor, and usually once a visit gets taken off by a whole bunch of staff to go touring.  

 I didn't dare take him out of the carrier when he passed out today - it was much easier just to lay the whole thing down!  Quilt courtesy of Sheryl.

Archivist in the making!  Here he is helping Kevin, senior archivist of research and collections.  Not the best picture of either of them, but oy, you should have heard the giggles coming from that office...

The time has come

I need to accept that my life has gone from this:

(2006)

To this:

(2011)

Amazing what a difference five years can make.  So I finally bit the bullet.  I cleaned out my entire closet and got rid of all my size 2's and 4's.  Even if I do lose all the baby weight, my hips are just never gonna go back.  Life is too irrevocably changed.  Cutting my hair was indicative of that final acceptance.

Thankfully, neither the haircut nor the closet-cleaning hurt as much as I thought they would.

(And thank you to Nicole for giving me the guts to post this!)

Rocket launching!

All set to launch!

Yay, I caught up with it after landing!

Umm... now what do I do with it?

Might as well let Mommy collect it while I drink.  Rocket launching is thirsty business.

It went over 300 feet in the air!

A tale of two projects

This weekend Jonathan and I were determined to do two projects with Xander.  I was going to do an art project with recycled construction paper.   Jonathan was going to build a rocket.

My project arose out of a need to be "green":  Xander is learning how to use scissors at school, and for the past few days has come home with little plastic baggies full of cut-up construction paper.  I wanted to use them for a good purpose, and for something other than the standard preschool collage.  So I found this site that explains how to make clay out of construction paper scraps.  I figured it would be a fun activity, and it would also piggyback on a Mr. Roger's special where Mr. Rogers and his neighbor take a tour of a construction paper factory.  Xander asks to watch it over and over.

The first step was to cut all the paper into even smaller pieces.

We needed lots of paper.

Next up came soaking the paper, for about 20 minutes.  This involved lots of stirring to make sure all the paper was wet.

We then transferred the wet paper into the blender, for a quick 2-minute blend.  At this point Xander instructed Jonathan to please take Ari to the living room, because "it will be loud.  Ari will cry."  (Xander then left to the living room too, so Jonathan held both of them.)

This part here is where it started to go bad.  You see those few pieces of green construction paper in the blender?  I had put all the colors in together.  I hadn't thought far enough ahead to realize that green paper + pink paper + yellow paper + red paper + orange paper = one very, very ugly color.  The final pulp looked disgusting.  The recipe told us to strain the water out of the pulp next... but my tidy child took one look at the brown mess in the bowl and utterly refused to put his hands in it.  So I did it instead.  His response, after I started to squish it?  "Mommy, your hands are dirty!  You need napkin."

Sigh.

But I was determined.  We plunged onward.  I got out all our cookie cutters, and we made shapes with the clay.

See the color?  Gross.  The shapes included menorahs, stars, hearts, dogs, and dreidels.  

Next we took our shapes outside to leave them to dry overnight, with the intent of painting them the next morning.  Jonathan then commenced his project with Xander: rocket building 101. 

Admittedly, Jonathan did most of the actual work, as it was pretty complicated, but Xander did love handing him things.  

Behold the finished product.  The best line of the night, after the rocket was finished:  "Mommy, Mommy, the rocket will go FAST!  Like MiniCooper!!"

Like the clay figures, the rocket was intended to be a two-day project as well.  The glue needed to dry overnight, and then today we were going to go to the park.  

I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

Complete, epic, project FAIL.

It rained.

I didn't rescue the clay figures early enough in the storm, so they were soggy and couldn't be painted.

It didn't even matter, because it turned out the only paint I had on hand was watercolor.

That didn't matter either, because the figures looked so disgusting Xander didn't even want to paint them.

We threw the figures away.

Due to said rain, the park was out of the question.  So no rocket launching either.

Instead the rocket sat there on the table, tempting cats and boy alike.  Xander was not happy that we had to reschedule for tomorrow.

So what did we end up doing?  Why, we drowned our sorrows in FOOD!  

Yes, we went on a baking frenzy.  We ended up with one small cake, eight muffin cakes in animal shapes (I love this pan), and homemade frosting.  Xander was seemingly oblivious to the fact that we were making chocolate cake, and time and again requested "pink cake."  After dinner, when the cakes had cooled, we were able to satisfy that need at least: he put one tiny drop of red food coloring in the vanilla frosting, and it came out as pink as pink could be.

So in the end, the day turned out fine.

All hail post-cake cuddles!

He's not even three yet!

As Jonathan and I sat in the kitchen with Ari, Xander hopped down from his seat, went to the living room, turned on the Playstation, inserted a DVD, and started up Mr. Rogers.

WOW.

Good side: he can entertain himself.  He will most likely fix my computer one day.  In five years.

Bad side:  Electronics are no longer secure.  Today Mr. Rogers... tomorrow the NSA!

Heat, teething, Jews, and grammar

1) Ari's about four months old.  As of today, teething has commenced.  Pray for us.  I'm hoping against hope that Sophie the wonder giraffe is as good as her press.  So far he chomps dutifully on her ears and feet, but still cries.


2) Whenever I ask Jonathan, "what are you thinking?" I'm usually surprised.  One time he said he was thinking about how big spiders grow in comparable areas of the country.  Another time he was wondering about the ancient Roman police force; we always heard about the Legions, he said, but that was national. What, if anything, did Rome do for its own city?

On the other hand, when Jonathan asks me what I'm thinking (which I admit is rather rare, because I'm a chatterbox and usually don't give him the chance to ask), it's mostly quite boring: a grocery list, to do's for tomorrow, that kind of thing.  But last night I had paused, deep in thought, and so he asked me.  I stammered a bit, then blushed:  I had spent almost ten minutes contemplating the usage of the word "comprise" versus "comprising" in a sentence.  What were the ramifications and implications of the simple present tense versus the gerund?


3) Hooray for Obama's repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell!


4) If someone new comes into the house and Xander likes them, he gives them a tour of all his best toys.  Tonight I was puppeting Thomas the Train, and Xander was having a conversation with "Thomas" about his train set.  The conversation soon took a turn:

"Thomas, do you see this drill?  It's for fixing things.  I have a drill bit.  This is a balloon, it's for hitting.  I can hit it high. [Bangs balloon.] See it?!  It's high.   This is my colander.  It's for taking water out of spaghetti.  And for being a space hat.  [Puts colander on his head.]  This is my piano.  It's for making music.  [Bangs piano to produce a cacophony of sound.]  This is my front loader. It's for scooping dirt. [Lifts and lowers handle enthusiastically, pantomiming dirt being scooped].  This is Bear.  He's white, and big.  For cuddling!  [Hugs stuffed polar bear.]"

It went on for a few items more. It was all I could do to keep a straight face and have Thomas go "um-hm" during the pauses.



5)  This article in The Jewish Daily Forward made me sad and hopeful at the same time.  I was the last student rabbi in Mattoon, IL, but they're still going on without me.  What does it mean for a congregation to close its doors?  How much of our memories are wrapped up in places versus in ideas?  If the youth go somewhere else, but remain Jewish, can we really say that it's a loss?

Struggling To Survive

Small Jewish Communities Across the U.S. Are Fighting To Stay Afloat

6) According to the Weather Channel, it was 95 degrees today but felt like 105.  I believe it.  I stayed outside only long enough to buckle the kids in and out of the car.  It was a hot, humid swamp.  Even the preschool forbade the kids from playing outside, they had to run around indoors at the gym.  So after inwardly complaining all day about the heat... I walked inside my house and promptly got goosebumps from the air-conditioning.  Body temperature, why must you be so fickle?

La dee da

My mother-in-law is in town. Besides getting us fabulous cooking accoutrements (yay for a new mixer!) she took Xander to a toy store. What was his favorite purchase, the thing he had to have immediately? A small push broom.  Why, you ask?  Because in one of his favorite Mr. Rogers episodes, Mr. Rogers interviews the cast of Stomp, and they make music with brooms (see clip).  So what have we been doing at home all night?  Stomping with brooms.  I was impressed though, he did remember a couple of the rhythms.

Here are some random pictures from the last week:

Xander was doing something fascinating to the side of the frame (I think eating cherries), hence Ari's distracted look.

Close-up of the shirt.  He's waving at the camera. :)

Xander and his fire truck hat that he made at school.  Sunglasses courtesy of my sister.

Sans sunglasses, with smile.

SO excited it's morning!!

Simcha capitalizes on Ari's bedtime to take the comfiest seat in the house.

All I do is complain that I'm not losing the pregnancy weight...

So of course, I just have to try the new Rolo's McFlurries at McDonald's...

And then French toast challah just has to be drizzled liberally with syrup...

And s'more fixings had a whole kiosk to themselves at Kroger, and I couldn't just let that chocolate languish...


Because you know, Ari's only in 9-month clothing.  Obviously he's deprived of nutrition.  I figure, the more I eat, the more he thrives, right?

:-)

Overcoming fear

I haven't been depressed lately, but I have been down, a little.  After trying to figure out why, I realize that I've been dealing with a lot of fear.  School starts up again in about a month.  Xander will stay at his preschool, but we're gonna have to figure out childcare for Ari.  No matter where he is (with Jonathan, a nanny-share, a program), he won't be with me.  And he hates eating without me.  I didn't have to go back to school full-time with Xander til he was nine months old, while Ari will be five months.  I'm not sure how my strong commitment to nursing will work with a child who hates a bottle.. and a mother who will be involved in classes, thesis-writing, and an internship at the AJA.

But I also think it's bigger than that.  I'm being ordained in May, and hope to become the family breadwinner.  All my friends I've talked to since their ordination (whether in 2003 or last month) say that rabbinic work is BUSY.  Hours upon hours busy.  And I'm looking forward to it, I really am.  But I still wonder... how can I be the wife and mother I want to be if I'm supposed to put my congregation first?  On the other hand, how can I be the rabbi I want to be if my family comes first?  Back before I got into HUC, in my interview in fact, I remember a community rabbi asked me what I thought my biggest problem or issue with the rabbinate would be.  I said "balance."  Even then, I knew it would be a problem.  And now here I am.  So far I've been able to manage because for the most part, school and student pulpits was dealt with on my own time.  But being a full-fledged rabbi seems different.  

And then tonight I found a godsend.  Or at least, one of those things that appears when you need it most, that makes me think, yes, there is an intervening God or guardian angel or something.  I followed a link on Facebook and found this site:  Ima on and off the bima: real-life Jewish parenting and living.   "Ima" is Hebrew for "Mother" or "mom."  The woman who writes the blog is a rabbi with four kids, the youngest of them still an infant.  I read her blog for hours, partly while nursing Ari (the irony).  Then I sent her a long email.  I hope she writes back.

I'm also trying to take care of myself; last weekend I took a few hours out to go to Cincinnati Pride; today I let myself be "kidnapped" by Maura for some girl time and shopping.  Little things like this won't fix the problem... but at least it's a start.   And that's really all I can do, isn't it?

Deathly Hallows part 2

By Jonathan

"It all ends" is the tag line, and it does. It may seem sad, except for the fact that it ends in a spectacular way. I have never seen a better end to a series of movies (with the possible exception of Lord of the Rings).

In comparing it to the book, I can honestly say that it's as good, if not a slightly better experience. It tightens up the plot some, better explains some parts that were vague and visually creates the work in a way that the book couldn't. In addition to all that, it was wonderfully directly, fantastically shot, and had superb acting by everyone. The movie had no glaring weak points anywhere.

Seeing it in the theater on opening night was without a doubt the best way to have seen it. The showing we went to was about 1am in the morning and the theater was packed, the lobby buzzing with lines 20 people deep to all the concessions. Death Eaters, Gryffindors, and house elves wandered around everywhere. The HP passion was thick in the air and every scene was felt to the heart by everyone. It short, it was a wonderful show.

(written at 4am 'cause I had to share)

Fourth of July... 10 days later

Smokers were the big hit... and running through the smoke was the best part.

All the neighbors' grandkids came to see the fireworks.  Two girls were in the grass, staying far away.  The 8 year-old with the lighter helped Jonathan light the fuse on this one.  And note Osher in the background.  He stayed the whole time, no doubt "protecting" us.

YAY SMOKE!!!!

Run Xander run!

Ah, the energy of the young.

Example of a little, non-smoker firework.

Erin watching Jonathan light the Roman candle.  Ari watching her shoulder.

Utterly passed out.  Note the drool spot on her white shirt!  (Erin's a good sport.)

After Xander went to bed, Jonathan and Tim had a fencing competition.

Playing with the exposure so the light shows up in patterns of their choosing.

Tim making an "M" for my name.

Hidden by the light.

And last but not least, some of the traces left in the sky.

Two and a half year-old trust

The last lines of The Cat in the Hat are something like:

[the mother asks]

"Did you have any fun?
Tell me, what did you do?

And Sally and I did not know
What to say.
Should we tell her,
The things that went on there that day?

Should we tell her about it?
Now, what should we do?

Well, what would YOU do,
If your mother asked YOU?"

[Actually I think this is the quote verbatim, I've read it enough times to know it!]

Anyway... the reason I'm posting this is because after I read the last sentence to Xander, I always turn to him and ask him what he would do.  And every single time he looks at me confused.  "Yes," he answers.  "I would tell you."  Tonight he said, "yeahhh..." with an unspoken "duh!" on the end.  It's like he's confused by the concept of the whole last page... why wouldn't you tell Mommy everything?

I think it's fabulous.  And I'm already lamenting the loss on the day that changes!  Which I know will be much sooner than I think...

Poor Dumbledore

Every night for the last six nights, our friend Tim has come over after kidlet bedtime to watch Harry Potter movies.  We've been doing a movie a night - tomorrow we'll watch Deathly Hallows Part One, and then the next night we'll go to the premiere.

We just saw the Half-Blood Prince.  I've seen the movie before.  I've read the book before.  Multiple times.

But NOOOOOO!

My grandmother's famous!

My grandmother has been playing this computer game, Bookworm, for years.  She's gotten insane scores, up to 115 million or more.  Well, a while ago Jonathan wrote the creators of Bookworm to tell them about it, and they interviewed her!  She now has a full profile up on the site.  All the PopCap game profiles are found here.   Savta's specific one is:

Lillian Liss, 86 - Arad, Israel

Octogenarian’s Bookworm Score is Higher Than Yours

Mazel tov to her!!

Summer fun

Nothing screams "childhood" like eating a push-up on the potty.

What ARE you doing over there?!

About to be dumped from his dump truck.

Ari thinks that Jonathan pretending to be a bird is the BEST thing ever.  (again, it only shows half the frame unless you view full-screen)

And finally, the quote of the day, courtesy of Xander: "Mosquitos are naughty.  They need to be on time-out, for no biting!"

The ultimate dragon peril

Xander is getting a cold, and is slightly congested.  Fifteen minutes after bedtime, he starts to cough.  He coughs so much that Jonathan goes into the closet and brings out the humidifier.  He fills it up with water, carries it to Xander's room, and plugs it in, all the while explaining to Xander exactly what he's doing and why.

Ten minutes after that, Xander starts to scream.  Jonathan and I tag-team, so this time, it's my turn to rush in.

M: "Honey, what's wrong?!" 

X: "Norbert!  He'll get burned!!"

I look over at Norbert the stuffed dragon.  He's sitting very calmly next to the humidifier.  If anything he's going to get wet, not burned.

M: "What do you mean, get burned?  He's right here.  He'll be fine."

X (sniffling): "Nooo!"  He turns to Norbert.  "Don't get burned."  He turns back to me, holding out his hands. "I want him."

M (perplexed, handing X the dragon):  "Can you tell me why you think he'll get burned?"

X: "Because of the fire!!  Daddy said, 'come see fire.'  I DON'T WANT NORBERT TO GET BURNED!!!"

And then I got it.  The proverbial light bulb went off.  The cartoon hammer hit me over the head.

Humidifier = come see fire.  

Stifling my laughter, I looked down at my very worried son, and explained that Norbert was safe.  There were no flames in sight. And the humidifier, the machine that made the air wet, was going to help him AND Norbert breathe better.

I left the room smiling.  And what do you know?  After that, all was quiet in the land of toddlers and dragons.

"Home birth on the rise by a dramatic 20%"

Read the Associated Press article here, by way of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Top ten things I learned over the long weekend

10) Yo-yo-ing isn't as hard as it looks! For some reason I never learned how. But Jonathan gave me some tips, and I am now a successful yo-yo-er. The best feedback came from Xander, who shouted with a huge smile: "MOMMY! You DID it!"

9) Jonathan says he can't cook steak. But he lies, it was excellent.

8) Motorcycle stores are fun to browse through, even when we're not buying anything. Xander was in awe.

7) Watching The Green Hornet was an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back. Becca taught us a word years ago that describes it perfectly: craptastic. It was so bad, it was almost an art form.

6) The higher you want the clothing size to be, the younger you are. (Alternatively, the older you get, the more you want a low clothing size.) I'm thrilled that Ari's in six months clothing, delighted that Xander's in 3T, and utterly depressed that most of my clothes are still maternity.

5) Push-up popsicles are just as popular this generation as they were in mine.

4) Ninety percent of my breast milk for Ari turns into drool.

3) Annie's bunnies are just as good as Pepperidge Farm goldfish. And they now sell them at Costco, hooray!

2) It doesn't matter the season or how many layers of clothes we wear. There is ALWAYS a ton of laundry.

1) Best recipe for an ecstatic toddler: strip him naked, put on the sprinklers, and tell him to run.

The 4th of July was awesome as well... but that's a separate post for later.

Two things that made me laugh yesterday

Jonathan and I both had the same size pizza slice for lunch.  I was chatting away while Jonathan was nodding sagely along, occasionally commenting on my monologue.  All of a sudden he noticed that he had a quarter of a slice left while I was already finished.  Honestly puzzled, he asked, "How in the world can you talk so much and finish faster than I do?!  I never even see you eat with your mouth full."  I told him that it was a rare talent.  And one that his sons would no doubt inherit.

Second, I finished A Game of Thrones last week, and am now onto the second in the series, A Clash of Kings.  The latter book was sitting on our bed on the bottom of a stack of board books I'd been reading to Ari and Xander.  Xander took the novel out from under Is Your Mama a Llama? and sat down on the floor with it, turning pages at a fierce pace.  "What are you doing?" I asked.  "Reading this book with lots of words," he replied. Then he gave it back, looking at me in pity.  "Mine are better!"