David did have a fit about which shoes he was going to wear, but otherwise this command performance Jewish holiday celebration went very well.

You may recall there has been a good news bad news situation with David and synagogue. The good news is he loves Sunday School. The bad news is he resisted mightily for Rosh Hashannah services and we left him home for Yom Kipor. So, it really could have gone either way.

Simchat Torah celebrates the Torah. On this holiday, you read the last few lines at the end of the scroll and start again with the first few lines at the beginning. The whole congregation dances around with the Torah, and traditionally, you get drunk on hard liquor though our synagogue seems to have gone with root beer floats. In addition, it's the day the kindergarteners get consecrated. They go up on the platform in front (the bima), say the most important prayer in Judaism (the Sh'ma) and receive their own miniature Torah.

That was the draw for David. I still have the Torah I got in this ceremony 39 years ago; Rose proudly displays her Torah; David was willing to brave the group photo and stand in front of the entire congregation to get his.

He decided that instead of singing the Sh'ma, which he claims not to remember, he was going to send his own silent message to God. No objection from me.

Aside from the bad sound system, the ceremony was lovely. The teachers made a chuppah out of their prayer shawls, and David, button up blue shirt untucked, was somewhere in the middle. He looked pretty overwhelmed afterwards, snuggling with us and refusing to put down his Torah.

David and the dancing was very interesting. There are seven dances. Dances one and two he slumped on the chair with Daddy. (Oh yeah, John was there. The only other time he's attended a service at this synagogue was Rose's confirmation.) By dance three, he was doing his own dance that he made up at Joel and Rebecca's wedding. Dance four and five he was close to the crowd on Daddy's shoulders. Dance six he joined the circle with me and Rose as we did that one with the walk like an Egyptian hand hold (Swarthmore folk dancers we all did it there), and dance seven he and Rose danced together.

After the dancing, they unscrolled the entire Torah, encircling the kids. It's very powerful for me seeing it all laid out like that. They read bits and pieces ending with the beginning chanted by a former member of the UW math department as John pointed out to me. When we got home, way after bedtime, David unscrolled his Torah and wanted me to read bits and pieces of it to him.

Aside from the fact that David was an overtired basketcase this morning, it was a great family celebration.