Tradition

TRADITION, TRADITION!

I believe that tradition is the glue that binds race, religion, culture and family together. No matter how secular a Jew may become, there is usually a Bris (if male, of course), a Bnei Mitzvoh and a Jewish funeral. Traditions may change depending how mores change. I'm big on tradition. I gave Aunt Molli and Uncle Larry my gold wedding band and asked them to be the keeper and supply it for use in all future weddings in the family. As Jewish tradition dictates, it is the one that I put on her forefinger 65 years ago.

Imagine Jacob, some two or three decades from now, telling his bride, as he puts that ring on her forefinger, "This is the ring that my great-grandfather Ken put on the forefinger of my great-grandmother Marcie nearly a century ago."

This being said, I believe that we should remember our loved ones with two dates; the secular one of their birth and the religious one of their death. That sort of ties their whole life together. So I remembered Grandma on her birthday, February 2nd and I will light a candle on the evening of February 22nd, the Hebrew date.