“Kol Emeth! My shul!” she cries.
“A chuppah!” she says, holding a towel over her head.
She really likes the bedeken [veiling of the bride]. “Why is Abba wrapping you up Mommy?” she asks, referring to her father.
She thanks Rabbi Shelley Lewis for giving Abba the kiddush cup during the ceremony. We have to carry her around in a chair the way Mommy and Abba were lifted. When I hear her cry, “Mazel Tov!” I know the glass-breaking has come. Her sweet voice singing, “Simin Tov and Mazel Tov” follows. She explains everything to her baby brother Daniel.
Lately, however, interest in the wedding video has given way to her “baby party” video: her brit bat. She sees her big friends, the ones who were my students at the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School, and the other children who have become our extended family. These are the ones who bring her up to the bimah with them on Shabbat to sing “Adon Olam” and who hold her on their laps during services.
I love that this is what my daughter loves. When she sees candles, any candles, she covers her eyes. Her first word was “challah.” She knows every Debbie Friedman song. She touches forks, cups, anything together and says “L’Chaim!”
Yesterday, while watching her brit she saw Rabbi Lewis.
“Look!” she shouted. “There’s Rabbi Shelley. He goes to my shul!”