The Point of Rosh Hashanah is to not make your friends vomit!

Last night we went to my husband's boss's house for Rosh Hashanah dinner. She took the day off to prepare and I helped. Hubby was in charge of the office in her absence. Normally our youngest son (YS) goes to Embassy care for only a 1/2 day a few days/week. But, today he stayed for the full day, so I could be free to help prepare the dinner. Dinner was to be at 6 PM. Only, hubby had to stay late, which meant that YS had to hang out with him at the office after Embassy care closed. When I asked YS what he did at daddy's office, he replied, "I had a meeting with Daddy and Ms. Sue." Ms. Sue is actually Susan (our Deputy Chief of Mission). Luckily, for us, she was very understanding about the atypical situation at hand. So, hubby and YS arrived at 7 PM for dinner. Still, it was a nice dinner, if not a little late.

Today, we drove to the beautiful old Synagogue here in Sofia for services (most importantly to the boys, to see the shofar blown). We were just about there, when oldest son (OS) vomited all over himself and the car. We made an immediate u-turn and headed home instead. I know it’s a day of "no work," but there was no way I could let vomit sit in the car. I gave hubby the choice, watch the boys or clean the vomit. You can guess which one he chose. So, I spent the next several hours cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning! OS vomited again at home, luckily in the toilet, and then spent the next several hours sleeping. When he awoke, he was still sluggish and tired.

OS asked to watch a movie. I wanted to share one of my all-time favorites with him. So, we watched The Princess Bride together. He loved it as I knew he would. After the movie, he heard kids outside playing and insisted he felt better. I told him, "no, you cannot go out and play." Oh my goodness, you would think the world was about to end. So, we had a long talk about Rosh Hashanah. We discussed how important it is to look at yourself, your choices and what you can do to think about and help others. If he went out to play, he could very well get his friends sick and that wouldn't be a very good thing to do. So, yes, the point of Rosh Hashanah is to not make your friends vomit. And there you have it. He still wasn’t happy about it, but at least he seemed to get that small part of it. We are still working on him to give up some of his toys to take to the orphanage. That is a work in progress. . .

And with that, we will wish all of our Jewish friends and family a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Shana Tova Umetukah!