A Year of Kaddish

It’s been a busy week on the Jewish calendar and at shul.

Everyone surely knows we’ve been observing Chanukah, which ends at sunset tomorrow. Besides lighting candles after sundown (except for tonight, when the candles are lit before Shabbat), we’ve also been reading or leyning (to use the Yiddish term for chanting) special portions of Torah each morning corresponding with the days of the festival. And because it’s a festival, there’s another special set of psalms known as Hallel that have been chanted as well. Which explained why I was always coming home later than normal every morning most of the week. [In the aftermath of the Tiger Woods affair, it’s hard to imagine a better explanation for your whereabouts than saying special Torah readings and Hallel delayed your return.]

If that weren’t enough, yesterday and today marked the beginning of a new month on the Hebrew calendar, Tevet, and that too called for special Torah readings as well as additional prayers known as Musaf.

I, however, missed out on all of that. As it happens, I may have heard the call from God, but I also got a call from one of my best corporate clients, and they wanted to know if I was available from 6 to 8 a.m. Thursday and Friday to edit and bring live their Intranet (or internal Internet) home page. I could get into a long explanation of the conflict I felt between making the minyan and saying Kaddish and the need to meet the requests of my clients, whether they be corporate communications departments or magazine editors.

But the sun is almost setting and I’m off to Kabbalat Shabbat, arriving shortly.
Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach Chanukah.