The "La La" House

Today is more of a thought of the day rather than a long, in-depth discussion. Coming soon, I want to touch more upon the human role in healing the universe, the concept of a constitutional republic in Israel/Palestine, Jewish environmentalism and why even be Jewish at all? But honestly, I'm writing during a quick lunch break at work and didn't yet get the chance to gather my thoughts and do my homework for those discussions. I've been little distracted this past week, as the transmission in my car decided to quit working and I was lucky enough to find out that the cost of the repair was more than the car was worth. So I've unexpectedly had to search for another used car that fit within my tiny budget. It really gets you to thinking about "Why Bad Things Happen To Good People," as written about by Rabbi Harold Kuschner.

Today's thought actually comes courtesy of my two year old son. Every night as he goes to bed, I sing him to sleep with Sabbath songs and some Jewish folk music (for the most part). He loves it and it's a good way to get him familiar with the melodies at an early age. He loves going to synagogue and I fairly frequently bribe him into going to sleep on a Thursday night by telling him that we'll go to synagogue "tomorrow," if he goes to sleep. I explain that "tomorrow" only comes if he goes to sleep. Not totally accurate, but it works for a two year old's comprehension. Anyhow, I told him that a couple of weeks ago and got this response..."Go La, La House?" Obviously, the word synagogue is difficult for him and so he came up with his own description. But think about it? For many of us, going to synagogue is an uninspiring, sometimes dreaded chore. But through the eyes of a youth it can be fun and exciting with encouragement. My son loves music and dancing and that's the part that he focused on. But each of us should ask ourselves what we like about being Jewish. If we were to describe our faith to someone who never heard of Judaism, what would we say? Would we be positive in our viewpoint, or negative? Like I've mentioned before, this is really the subject matter that I want to cover here. What has inspired so many of our ancestors to fight for the right to live their faith and why have so many more voluntarily chosen the Jewish faith as their own? Sometimes it's the "little wonders" that can be the most miraculous and inspiring, such as when my son called the synagogue the "La, La House." Maybe this is just the amazement of a proud father, but I hope you found some inspiration as well. Talk to you soon.