Rimon Siddur Presentation

This morning, Micah and his first grade classmates received their "real" prayerbooks, and led a very beautiful service.

The end of first grade has been the point when the MWJDS kids graduate from a sort of "training" prayerbook - each prayer, or the major portion of the prayer, written in very large Hebrew print on an individual page and kep in a loose-leaf binder - to the regular elementary school prayerbook that the "bigger" kids use. This year, the ceremony was moved up from May to March, and you could see how ready these 9 children were.

They all spoke beautifully about prayer, about learning, about their joy at becoming real participants in Jewish life. They took turns leading the various prayers. In some cases, where they had learned and enjoyed multiple tunes for a specific prayer, they did the prayer twice!

The parents, many grandparents, and a variety of community supporters (Board members, volunteers, local rabbis, and other friends) all looked on proudly as our "little" kids took the responsibility of leading the entire service.

Then each family got up, one at a time, to present the new prayerbook to our first grader. We had each composed something special for the bookplate of our child's book. This prayerbook will be theirs for years to come (Sammy sat between me and David, holding on to his own prayerbook, which we presented to him in 2006).

It was a lovely, lovely morning. I have not had a chance to sift through the photos yet; will post eventually.

Otherwise, a busy-as-usual week. Sofia is still sickish, with a nasty cough and a stuffy nose, but nothing specifically "wrong". We napped in the car for a while, and now I've transfered her to her room. When I picked her up from school on Tuesday, she walked into the kitchen, laid down on the floor and said "sleep".

I also took Sammy home from school early yesterday, since he has had a very stuffy nose all week, too. I think having some quiet time really helped him. We stopped at the craft store on the way home, and now my creative son has a new career path: jewelery designer. He made several bracelets and necklaces yesterday, and last night I dug out all my old beading gear. He also got some of those "hot loops" weaving things, and has made 2 potholders already.

Ah, I hear stirrings from Sofia's room, finally...