The Blessing and Curse of Being a Rabbi's Kid

Dear Peanut,

I've been confronted with the first challenge of this blog. A very dear friend, someone who knows our family better than almost anyone else, asked me a question that haunts me a little.

She knows how private Daddy and I are, and she knows how sensitive children can be when their parents reveal too much about their lives without permission. And so, she asked: is it possible that Daddy, you, or I will come to regret the public nature of this blogged ethical will?

So here's lesson #1 of this blog: In life, find friends you trust enough to know the entirety of who you are. People who will not shy away from your flaws and who will love you all the more for them. People who will read a few hundred words of your writing and know exactly the right questions to ask you. If you can also get lost in gales of laughter with them, then you know you've found a friend of spirit.

The reason this is blogged, and not just a private document between us is because you have the blessing and the curse of having a rabbi for a parent. (A subject I'm sure we'll explore here.) As a rabbi, I'm a teacher and a communicator—a door-to-door salesman, really—for Judaism. My hope is that somehow in the details of our lives together, I will be able to communicate the intersection of Jewish values with parenting and life.

In the particular the universal is revealed. Maybe, by sharing my real concerns and desires for you, I can connect to other people’s lives. Maybe this will guide others as they try to shape the moral lives of the next generation or discover new ways to bring an appreciation of the sacred into their secular experiences. Maybe this will help me grow in my own Jewish and spiritual life. At the very least, it will accomplish the goal of beginning an ethical will for you.

Still, our friend's question remains in the air. So I promise to try to maintain the balance between discretion and openness. I will try not to reveal any names or personal details that may invade our privacy. And, I’ll expand my entries beyond the experiences of our family from time to time.

In some sense, the epistolary nature of this blog is a little 19^th century, but it works as a device, allowing me a focus to my reflections. Thank you, Peanut, for being that focus, and for bearing with the blessing and curse of being a rabbi's kid.

I love you,

Mommy