So it shall be written...

(in that anne baxter purr) "Oh moses, moses"...poll any number of young jewish children with the question, "what is your favorite jewish holiday?" and most likely there will be a rousing roar of "chanukah" as visions of presents and dreidels dance in their eyes...i, however, would have said passover...visually always "the ten commandments" in all its glory...as a child missing the humor in the casting (vincent price! edward g. robinson!) but remembering the beauty of debra paget and yvonne de carlo...oh, moses...in the amazing naivete of my youth, i believed it when my uncle pointed to the statue as we drove to robert moses state park, and said, "moses is buried here"...imagining holy sands beneath my toes...on long island!...but for me nothing will ever top the sweet memories of huge seders hosted by my grandmother or her sisters...my grandmother was the eldest of six sisters...as they married, had children, and their children had children, the family became quite large...i can close my eyes and see the table...at the head of the table, my grandfather and his brothers-in-law, singing in hebrew, joking in yiddish, yelling at everyone to be quiet in english...next, the women, taking turns sitting, cooking, serving and also yelling at us, the children, while the sounds of their laughter in the kitchen drowned all else...and us, the children, rolling eyes, crawling under the table in search of the afikomen (matzoh to be taken and held for a reward at the end of the seder)...escaping to apartment hallways to run and play, so happy to see cousins once more...and then suddenly i was a hostess...truly understanding after organizing a sit-down multi-course ceremonial meal that when it came to hosting responsibilities, at passover you wanted this holiday to pass-you-over...but secretly savoring the vision of your own daughter, giggling with her cousins way down at the end of your table...passover...a holiday that has it all...slavery, freedom, sorrow, joy and redemption...in ways not so different from all that this most holy week means for my christian friends...perhaps when we feel little hope for our community, or nation, or for our world, we should remember that sometimes the parts are greater than the whole...and sometimes random acts of kindness sustain us...happy passover and happy easter...and even if you don't travel either of those roads...here is wishing us all peace, and lightness of the soul even in the darkness.

it's not easy being green...

ah, st. patrick's day...when everyone is irish...when it rains beer down fifth avenue (well actually the day before this year, but i digress)...when everyone raids their closets for something green...i hate to admit it but most shades of green are not in my "color wheel"...i can pull off one or two...although they look better when i am tan...and not this tired shade of late winter...actually, for me one of the most joyous things about march 17th is that once you get over your hangover on the 18th you are two days away from spring!...but we all know that it's only a date on the march calendar...one that mother nature surely ignores...and yet, our cat, donut, is hopeful...gazing out the windows...waiting for the birds and their return...basking in the late-day sun...department stores, still reeling from yet another dismal season, tempt us with a rainbow of color as spring, and almost summer, clothing stare at us from every window display and circular...as we shiver in the artic march winds...spring is coming...and so is the easter bunny...who will no doubt hop a little faster so his cottontail doesn't freeze...and moses...miriam and aaron might want to hand him a north face coat this year...but that, as they say, is another story...this weekend i think of an old irish blessing, "may the road rise to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. may the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields. and until we meet again, may G-d hold you in the palm of his hand"...