I had some vague memory of sitting at the kitchen table, dying Eater eggs with a Paz kit.  But how could that be?

“Mom, did we ever dye Easter eggs when we were kids?” I asked recently.

“Yes, we did,” she replied.

“Really!?!”

“Meredith, we didn’t have cartoons available all day or DVDs or video games.  We had to be creative.  So, yes, we dyed eggs and put stickers on them and then I made egg salad.  It was something to do.”

Wow.  Okay.  So does this mean I have the green light to dye eggs with my kids?  It does sound like fun.  And I do love chocolate bunnies and I crack up every time the Cadbury Crème Egg commercial comes on—the one with the bunny that clucks like a chicken.  Hmmmm, it would be a non-electronic activity.  And, if I did it as a child and still grew up to become the “Modern Jewish Mom” obviously it didn’t hurt my developing Jewish identity….

But, doesn’t decorating a Christmas tree also sound like fun?  What’s the difference?  Where do I draw the line?

Around the same time I was busy with my egg project torment, my son’s school was ramping up for Purim.  This is our first year at the Day school.  He transferred as a third grader.  I had considered the school years ago when my daughter (the oldest) was ready to enter kindergarten.  But, I guess I wasn’t ready.  Honestly, I was afraid she would become more observant than I was comfortable with.  I wasn’t sure if I was ready to provide the home that she would be learning about in school.  And I figured it was important that she be in school with a diverse group of kids.  After synagogue nursery school and kindergarten, wasn’t it time she made some non-Jewish friends?

So, Sofie went to public school.  And so did Jules.  But with him, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it just wasn’t the right fit for him.  In the meantime, Shabbat was becoming more and more a mainstay in our home and I noticed he really lit up whenever we discussed the Torah portion.  His involvements in our discussions allowed me to see that there was a little spiritual side to him. 

Jules was invited to play on the Day school baseball team by one of his friends (a student at the school).  He loved his new friends and after spending a day at the school to “see how it felt” we knew we had found his academic home.

School was buzzing for Purim.  Countless emails were sent reminding parents to send in their mishloach manot forms and requesting volunteer help to put the baskets together.  Jules kept debating whether or not to wear his Halloween costume or dress as Ahasveros.

Finally the day arrived.  It was my day to drive carpool and I pulled up to drop off line with Ahasveros, Mordechai and Haman in the car.  Jules had decided it was better to go with the Purim character costume.  He didn’t hesitate to don the royal purple pillowcase I created for the website.  He loved the mustache and goatee I painted on that morning with eyeliner gel (he did look sort of dashing in it!)

And something struck me as I watched the boys walk up the pathway to school followed by a parade of similarly dressed children.  It was really nice.  It was really wonderful to be in a place where dressing up for Purim was the norm.  Purim, that was never more than the day I baked hamentaschen and we went to synagogue to watch the schpiel and hear the megillah, was suddenly a more important part of my year.  It was a holiday.  And, as much as I thought it was so very important for my children to go to school with a “diversity” of students, I’m now thinking that maybe it’s even more important for them to have years where they can be truly comfortable celebrating their Jewishness.  Where, for possibly the only time in their lives, they are in an environment where they are not the minority.  Where no one dressed up for Halloween but everyone did for Purim.

I parked and walked in to pick up my basket.  The gym bleachers were filled with plastic cake carriers (the PTA always uses a fun kitchen item to serve as the basket) filled with treats from Israel and wrapped with shiny cellophane and gorgeous ribbon.  I was excited carrying my basket out, thinking how nice it was…thinking how maybe next year the kids and I will make our own mishloach manot baskets to deliver to friends in the neighborhood.

And then I realized.  Basket.  Purim basket.  Easter basket.

Who needs to dye eggs?  We do have fun traditions in OUR faith.  I don’t need to bring other rituals into my home—What I need to do is bring more Jewish ones in.

And I can make hard boiled eggs for the seder.

 

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