SHIRLEY / Tisha B'av

Today is "Tisha B'Av" which is the the 9th of the 11th Month, or 9-11 (and the letters add up to 911)...an ominous day. It is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and "a day which is destined for tragedy". It commemorates the destruction of the 1st (422 BCE) and 2nd (70CE) Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel. The day also memorializes “other tragedies” which occurred on the same day, including the Roman massacre of over 100,000 Jews at Betar in 132 CE, the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 and from Spain in 1492, the beginning of the Holocaust with deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka and the day we lost my mother, Shirley Winters in 1983. What did all these sad events have in common? They taught us how to live on and make the world a better place, to remember, to care about people ... all people, and to have faith to persevere.

We spent the day at the cemetery ... "visiting the family", with the most time spent at my mothers gravesite (no photos posted here). Yes, the bulk of the day was visiting with 19 people we love and think of often ...their memories are always for a blessing.

Then we went to our mothers' favorite restaurant for celebrating birthdays ... Benihana. Why? They celebrate with sparklers and hats and yell "bonzai" as they cheer with your arms up in the air. One time that was memorable, my mothers "wig" went flying across the restaurant and barely missed the hibachi table. Although the restaurant and patrons were mortified by this happening to her ... our mother's wonderful attitude had her (and us) hysterically laughing ... and we still laugh when we recount that day and her wonderful attitude about everything in life! What a memory.Read more