SO EXCITED!!!

MAYA IS COMING!!! I can't wait for her to come and see this place! She's going to stay at the kibbutz with me, but we're going to bounce around the country a little too, just us two gals! Life on the kibbutz is wonderful, beautiful, and refreshing...but busy! Gotta go feed the chickens, gotta go clean the kitchen, gotta go gotta go gotta go gotta go gotta go

Applications in!

Wow today has been a great day! I spent all day in the Kibbutz's library, writing and sending applications to all of the rabbinical schools I could drums up in Israel. Also! I had a short email correspondence with Maya and she seemed interested in coming to see the Land of Canaan, but she assured me that "it will be for travel and adventure, not to seek a religious experience."

Oh well.

I am starting to learn, here, that there is always a religious experience in travel and adventure. Some people just have different names for it.

Well, I'm off to the post box. And by the way, you would not believe the beauty of the walk from the Kibbutz's library down the road to our post box!

Life in Israel

Holy cow, it's been a long time since my last update. Sorry about that, friends! Life in Israel has been great and I have a lot to tell. I started my journey in Jerusalem and spent a few days seeing the city. I went to the Western Wall on Sabbath and the whole day was a great inspiration. The bobbing heads of praying Jews, the notes in the wall, and the warmth of humanity spreading out from the Jewish Quarters all made me feel like I had found my home. This beautiful culture and people... every waking moment I have had in Israel has felt like a dream. When I was leaving the Western Wall, I heard that familiar Chicago accent coming from a small group of Americans. I stopped by the group and they invited me to spend some time on their Kibbutz! So that is where I have been all this time. The Kibbutz is a small one, for American ex-patriots and it is in the middle of nowhere. We do have a computer here, but I have just been so busy helping with the cooking, taking care of children, and I even sat in on a few Torah readings. Israel really is the place for a Jewish grandmother, though. I mean, everywhere I turn I see reminders of what I love about my faith and my people. If only Maya could see this place...

That's it! I'll bring Maya here! Maybe then she'll get a little understanding about her history, and this could become my first job as a rabbi (even though I haven't even started classes yet, but a young man named Avi who lives on the kibbutz told me that he has a cousin who is enrolled in a wonder, small rabbinical school just outside of Jerusalem).

Well, I am going to sign off now so that I can close this blog window and look at the American Airlines website for a little to see if I can manage to hold off on the return flight without crazy fees!

When I Make it to the Promised Land...

...I'll breathe the holy desert air! If I don't break my wallet first... A round trip ticket from New York to Israel is going to cost me 1400 dollars! Plus 350 for the flights from Chicago to New York! Oy... Who knew spiritual enlightenment would cost so much?

Maya thinks I'm crazy for going. She's got her whole spiel about a midlife crisis and blah blah blah. I don't want to hear it anymore! I am NOT going through a midlife crisis. I see it more as a midlife journey. Sure I might have had a little bit of a freak out back there with Micheal's Bris and the possibility of a Baptism... but that's all in the past. I love my grandson, and I always will, and Maya (and James) too. But, I have got to move on to bigger things!

The commandments have been calling me! But right now my neighbor, Joan, is calling me from the driveway! (She's my ride to the airport). Next time you hear from me will be from Jerusalem!

I Have Decided...

...that it is time for me to take a vacation and go far away from all this nonsense. A lot has happened in the past week my friends, and it seems that my daughter and her husband have made up their minds. They're not going to be bringing baby Micheal to church (I was relieved to hear that one on the phone). However, when I asked Maya if she could be staying with congregation B'nai Tikvah or if she would like me to help her find the right congregation for her new family, she said "no congregations, just me and the baby and James."

I had to make sure I heard things correctly, so when I asked her again and she gave me the same response I did what all good mothers do, I gave her a stern (but loving) reassurance that this "I-don't-need-God-in-my-life" nonsense is just a phase that she will outgrow. Maya seems to think that Micheal will grow up just fine without being "indoctrinated" with religion, be it his mothers or his fathers. She says, if he wants religion in his life when he's older, he can find the right one for himself then.

"Really, mom," she said, "who am I to tell this beautiful child what to do and what to believe?"

YOU ARE HIS MOTHER! That is your job! To guide him...

"I took you to Hebrew school and Sunday school, and look how great you turned out!"
"Mom, I was miserable in Sunday school, I was just too afraid to tell you that I never wanted to go. I mean, what kid wants to go sit and learn about God and Moses for four hours every Sunday? The only thing I ever got out of it was singing in the choir..."

So it all comes out... My daughter resents me for all the wonderful opportunities I provided for her. Oy, oy, oy! I'm telling you its a generational thing. The younger world has no regard for tradition, for the beliefs of their ancestors. They prefer the stories in movies because at least those stories you forget about a day or two after hearing them. I want her to see that there is nothing real in that. I love my family, I will not give up on them and I am doing this for them, so I can teach them in the way that God wanted the people of the covenant to be taught. I am going to go to Israel, to learn it all, so that I may teach it all. I am going to become a rabbi.

What Can I Do?

Now that Maya and James are back from Ann Arbor, I don't know what to do to make sure Micheal is going to be raised in a proper Jewish home. I called Maya and told her that James should convert and in the background I heard him exclaim that he was thinking about going to church! Can you believe that? And Maya laughed! They don't take anything seriously... She said the circumcision has healed and looks very nice and thanks for paying for the "procedure" but I didn't have to go through all the trouble. "All that stress for nothing," she said. At least they're not mad at me, I guess, but can you believe? My own daughter calling The Holy Covenant a "procedure"on the telephone! What happened to respect? People have no more respect anymore. These kids... At that point I had to hang up. I told Maya it was good to talk to her and I was glad she got home from Ann Arbor safe. We're going to go out for lunch next week, What if next week James brings Micheal to church?! Oy vay, God forbid it...

Hear me God!

Please! One of your children is faltering and losing the warmth of your light and I am ashamed to say that it is my own daughter. I have been praying for her all day and, even more so, praying for my einnikel! I did everything right, I brought my daughter to synagogue for the high holidays, I enrolled her in Hebrew school, Sunday school, she had her Bat Mitzvah! And she goes off to college and marries this Christian fellow who is now attacking the Jewish people and forcing a Jewish baby to be BAPTIZED!!! Please God! Guide my daughter Maya, there is only so much I can do...

Sorry for the Delay

Last week was a busy week for me, friends. Maya and James ended up staying in Ann Arbor the whole week and I had the pleasure of taking care of baby Micheal! He's a cute one but, OY! is he a hand full. It took me a good half hour to remember how to change a baby's diaper and let me tell you, baby poop is not easy to work with...

Micheal has healed up quite nicely from the...snip-snip. He slept the whole day after we left The Mohel, which of course led to him waking up every 3 hours with poop in his diaper or needing to be fed for the rest of the week. I haven't been this exhausted since Maya was a baby! But now, looking back on the week, it's all been worth it. I have never felt more fulfilled in my life than I have now, as a Jewish Bubbie to this wonderful baby. I have started singing the stories of Moses to him as he falls asleep and, OY! I cannot wait for him to get those first few teeth in so he can try some of his grandma's matzo balls!

I am a little worried about what Maya will say about Micheal's surprise trip to The Mohel, though... But WHATEVER! IT WAS FOR MICHEAL'S OWN GOOD! AND MAYA'S TOO!

Tradition, Tradition, Tradition!

Hello World!

For Jews, there is nothing more important than tradition. I admit, I have never been the most observant Jew. Growing up, my family was one of the first member's of our town's first Reformed Synagogue, but the Jewish community around us was strong and thriving. Now, as I embark on the final stages of my life I vow to be the anchor of the Jewish faith for my family!

Being there, experiencing The Holy Covenant for the first time (my daughter Maya being my only child) awoke something inside of me. Micheal, I am now your Bubbie, first and foremost, before anything else in life. A child needs its grandmother! And since my daughter refuses to raise you properly, it will be up to me to give you the beautiful life of a Jew that you deserve. L'Chaim!

Today is Your Day!

Oh Micheal, I am so happy for you! And I am so giddy as I type this! My plan has come to fruition. In my conversations with The Mohel, he told me to be patient. He told me that God will let me know when the time is right for you to receive The Holy Covenant and your time is here! You see, Micheal, your parents called me the other day and told me that they must go out of town for a few days to look for apartments in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Your dad got a job offer there, so they want to see how they like the town and if they can find acceptable preschools for you. Little do they know that they left a little window open that I will surely climb into.

The Mohel was right! God is giving me the opportunity, right now! With your parents out of town, and with me as your babysitter, I leave to see The Mohel right now. Oh Micheal... Mazel Tov!

Action Must Be Taken

Well, I've been meeting with The Mohel everyday this week and the plan is set. So what if it's not on his eighth day? My grandson will not have this ancient right stolen from him by a couple of kids who don't know any better! I'm sorry Maya and James. I love you both, I really do, but oy vay you just don't know the importance of this tradition!

This plan must remain top secret. I'll let you all in on the details as soon everything is taken care of and we don't run the risk espionage.

On a lighter note, it's been 53 long years of life that I've been eating the Gallowitz matzo ball soup and my older sister Michelle finally gave me the recipe! You see, this matzo ball soup (we call it Jewish Penicillin) is not only the best cure for the common cold and flu, but oh my god it is the most delicious treat, ever! The Gallowitz women inherit the recipe as soon as they become grandmothers...

I can remember my own grandmother cooking the soup for me when I was only 5 years old and I had the chicken pox. For a week straight I was miserable and the only thing I could look forward to, the only thing keeping me alive was this delicious, oh so delicious nectar of Abraham. It will only be a matter of time until Micheal can gum solid food and at that time he'll taste his first matzo ball, and HE WILL KNOW HE IS A JEW!

A Day to Mourn

Well, today was supposed to be the day. And my baby grandson, poor thing, is being robbed of his history! But there will be a day when this is made right. Believe you me, Maya! You are cheating your son!

I'm off to talk to The Moel and figure out what can be done.

A Family Divided

Hello all,

He hasn't even been with us for a week and Micheal is already causing a big stink. Not the usual baby stink either... A Jewish baby boy is supposed to take part in the holy covenant, The Bris, on his eighth day! And here we are, on his fifth day, fighting about whether or not he's going to take part in our ancient tradition at all! And what breaks my heart is that my own daughter Maya won't even stand up for her faith. She sides with James; and now they have this twenty-first century, "I went to college, and am enlightened and know the world," mindset and its no good for the baby! I went to college, too! But I held on to my family's traditions! And here my daughter is telling me that her son, my grandson, will, "most likely be circumcised for the procedure's health benefits, but James and I can do without the religiosity of The Bris ritual."

I mean, come on! Can you believe that? My own daughter saying this to me over the telephone last night. I never thought I'd see the day where a Jewish woman would abandon her mother and her history so easily. And my own daughter nonetheless!

Oy! Here I am rambling...I should have never taken that speed typing class that the firm offered. It really just starts to pour out when you get going on these blog webs.

So that's my daughter! The one who encouraged Reggae rhythms in the synagogue choir when she was 15 years old! She came home for winter break her first year of college with her nose pierced, dabbling in Hinduism when she told me that she had met the love of her life and his name was, "James Smith."

I never gave it any thought. Maya always came home for the high holidays and Passover, so why would I? I was so happy to see my daughter happy that it never once occurred to me that mixing religion and family might be a little complicated at times.

Anyways... Maya, I know you are reading this and you're a woman now so I won't tell you what to do as long as you do what you know is right in your heart.

Signed,
Grandma Gallowitz

P.S.
Sorry for the delay on those pictures! Coming soon I promise!

Hello, World...Welcome Micheal!

Welcome to Micheal's Media! This will be an interweb blog dedicated to the newest member of our family! Even though his last name will be Smith, we can already tell the Gallowitz blood runs deep in Micheal. Why? Well as there are many of you who I have been on the phone with non-stop the past few days, you will already know that his expected due date was yesterday, and like all us Gallowitz's, he arrived late! Micheal was born today at 5:48 a.m. He is a healthy and beautiful baby boy, with a full head of Gallowitz curls already. Micheal weighs 7.5 pounds as of today, but we hope you will all follow our baby blog and watch Micheal grow into a big strong toddler with us! Congrats to my beautiful daughter, Maya, and my son-in-law, James. You two have made me the happiest grandmother alive! And only at age 53!

Photos and movies to come!