Snip, Snip

In honor of the little man's third birthday in the hebrew calendar, I snipped a little of his hair. His hair that is totally rocking with his sleeveless shirts and shorts. His hair that is getting cuter, but that I can't wait to cut.

But we are waiting. We are waiting for his grandparents. So the son of the woman who loves short hair is having his Upsherin delayed by two weeks. I appreciate that G-d did not laugh at me, and give me a kid with thick very long hair, instead we are just waiting longer than we thought.

With all this time to wait, I've been thinking about people who "do upsherin" even if it isn't their custom. At first I thought, they think it's frummer, but then I decided that's not it at all.

Growing up Yekkish meant growing up with customs that were different from everyone else. Today, in this global world, people have melded together into a big melting pot of Judiaism, with a lot of Chassidim keeping only some of their minhagim, without the whole look (bekeisha, streimel, seamed stocking, hat on sheitel, etc). Because there are so many chassidim, they have integrated into yeshivish communities, and now "mainstream" Jews (not yekkish, not chassdish people) are faced with a new phenomenon.

They are not doing what everyone else is doing.

They aren't used to this. I think communities were probably more homogenous years ago, in terms of backgrounds, and now with the mix of peoples, this is startling. Things that they had no idea were even a custom, as opposed to a law, because EVERYONE they knew did the exact same thing, suddenly revealed as "flexible."

Now, many who come from backgrounds with strong traditions, and a need to remain insular would never see a custom as something to be flexible about (unless of course it's someone else's custom, then it's...worthless-which as a side point: if someone says they are "machshiv minhagim," but are only "machshiv" their own minhagim then they are disingenuous, and in fact are not at all machshiv minhagim, they are just chauvinistic.). But for those who had no idea that their way was not the only way, and a need to fit in with ones neighbors, has given rise, in my opinion, to many more people waiting to cut their boys' hair.

So bring on the scissors, and no, there will be no vimpel (sunday, rosh chodesh-the wave of the future), as much as I would have liked it, it is not the custom for this family.

Start of Summer

Today, in honor of the fallen soldiers of our country we went to a minor league ball game. (OK, that's a bit flippant, but we don't really celebrate the memorial part of memorial day in this country. Perhaps, if I knew soldiers I would do more than fly a flag).

With five errors for each team, we settled in for an afternoon of decent entertainment, but nothing to earth shattering.

Until the final play. Bottom of the ninth, one out, two men on, and the catcher, who had the worse day of anyone, missing pop ups and doing nothing at the plate, blasted a home run to win the game.

Aside from the fun of sitting in a beautiful (if possibly illegally funded) stadium, watching the kids clapping and dancing, winning t-shirts, and yes, munching Cracker Jacks, the home team won a game they were losing from the first inning on. In the ninth inning.

Now that's coolness.

Where's the Love?

Driving down the Grand Central Parkway this evening, we spied Citi Field just ahead of us, at which point, above the pulsating music emanating from the CD player, I heard Almost Ten Year Old shouting at the top of her lungs "Mets Stadium, BOO, BOO!" (Sung to the tune of: "Yankee Stadium, Ole,Ole," which had indeed been performed earlier on the Harlem River Drive).

As the car continued down the road, Six Year Old joined in, until she was admonished by an older sibling that we were passing the Tennis Center. Literally, without missing a beat, she changed the song to:

"Tennis Center, BOO,BOO!"

At which point Almost Ten Year Old very seriously intoned:

"We don't hate tennis."

To which Six Year Old AGAIN changed her lyrics, to a more positive:

 "Tennis Center, Ole, Ole."

Ten Year Old in a most exasperated voice informed her sister:

"I didn't say we LOVE Tennis!"

Apparently, we are Tennis neutral.

Insensitive, or Making MY Point?

After the Sandy Hook massacre I noted that the original idea of no gun control made sense, because the Nation was young, nothing was fully set, there were a lot of people probably still itching for a fight, but more importantly, the scale and scope of government weapons was the same as that of the populace. I believe that has changed immesurably, and if  the government really wanted to "round up" the populace, a few ak-47s against the government's firepower and technology would be like guns against arrows.

Which brings this around to a news story I saw  in which an anti-gun control billboard was put up that some in the Native American community found offensive, though I think it makes my point instead:

 When the firepower you have is equal, giving it up is dangerous. At this point? If the Government went bad?

Doomed.