Kid #1 called tonight from the train, returning to the city (NY’ers always mean NYC when they say, “the city”). He had been to our cousin’s kid’s Bar Mitzvah in NJ and had a story to tell. Seems the shul was modern Reform and a lot of the family’s friends weren’t Jewish (so they were unfamiliar with the melodies and words). Kid #1 listened to the Cantor singing prayers he knows but tunes that are foreign (we change the tunes every few years just to confuse senior citizens). But at one point says Kid #1, she breaks into a Debbie Friedman melody.
My kids were raised on Debbie’s liturgical melodies and he sang along (I have a Debbie Friedman playlist on my Nano and when we drive to DC, sister#3 and I listen to most of her CDs). He was the only congregant singing along. Must have warmed the Cantor’s heart as much as it did mine.
Motherhood rocks.
