bat mitzvahs

I spent the past weekend in Portland, ME with my family celebrating my cousin's Bat Mitzvah. It was really nice. My dad commented at the end that she already looked older at the end than she did at the beginning. I said that I wasn't sure if that was true, but that I definitely thought she looked older than I had ever seen her on that day. Maybe it was the dress, but probably not...

It's amazing how much weight (emotional, historical, intellectual...) can be put into those moments on the bima. We (my family) were talking about how it is not only this moment of great celebration but also one where the completion of a huge amount of work is publicly recognized. It's kind of an amazing thing to watch. My dad also commented on how he thinks that the 13 year olds up there leading don't necessarily "get" the historical lineage that they are now a part of, which I kind of disagree with. I think they do, I think I did... probably not in a way that I could have been eloquent about in any real way, but in a way that I understood I was now joining a line of people, and one of the first women in my family to do that... So I was both joining and pioneering. Strange.

Anyway, getting to watching her lead and sing was beautiful and getting to watch all the different parts of my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, her parents) do things like open the ark, bless her, say the Torah blessings next to her was really amazing... all of them there to be a part of and recognize and cherish and bless her day. My family really shows up for events and almost everyone was there. Whether it was her parents giving her her tallit or our little cousins opening and closing the ark or the rest of us watching, laughing at jokes and tearing up at different moments, we all got to watch her get a little older and really show us how much she's worked over the last year. She did a really incredible job.

In other news, Zambia has been named by the New York Times as THE luxury vacation destination of 2007. Who knew? A bit ironic that more than half of the country lives on less than $2 a day and that tourists are coming in spending $600 A NIGHT on lodging so that they can watch the hippos play as they lounge in their hot tubs. But, I guess it's a mixed bag because tourism is also obviously doing a lot for the country. So, I guess it's better that Zambia make it into the New York Time travel section than not... any thoughts? Just so you know, if you come visit me, I can't afford a luxury safari lodge, though I'll hopefully be able to tell you where the best places to see animals are! :-)