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.