We used to play a memory game, where you would start off saying "when I travel to Israel, I will bring along a...", and each player would add an item, that would need to be remembered for each subsequent statement. It would be quite entertaining and difficult, remembering the toothbrush, egg sandwich, pet turtle, solar-powered rocket launcher, etc.
So what would you bring along if traveling to Egypt? Well, Jacob and his 11 sons (Joseph was already viceroy of Egypt) faced this dilemma when they decided to move the family down to the city of Goshen, Egypt. #1 on the to-do list? Not accommodations, jobs, or gym membership. It was setting up Jewish education. Judah ran ahead to take care of these logistics. Because that would help the nomadic family retain their identity, culture, and history. It's one of the reasons why Petaluma Hebrew and Camp Aleph are such fantastic ways to enhance the community. But what about those of us who are no longer qualified children, yet have inquisitive minds, and deep feeling for a heritage that we have yet to fully discover? When anti-semitism strikes, what is it that we are protecting and standing up for? For that we have a special course that begins on Monday called "Judaism 101" - it's a crash course on so many Jewish topics that you might have wondered about. And the part that I'm especially looking forward to is the Q&A that follows each class. Try it out, you may just love it. www.JewishPetaluma.com/Judaism101 Fun fact: Did you know that the great sage Rabbi Akiva was 40 years old when he first began studying the Hebrew Alphabet?