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Happy New Year!
Get busy with your little honeys and celebrate family
(the apples of your eye) on Rosh Hashanah.
Stories by Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News
B
y day, David and Tara Stone are
exceptionally busy executives.
They make big decisions, they
work with a variety of colleagues, they
hold meetings and they set agendas.
But in the evening, as the Jewish holi-
days approach, another side of David and
Tara Stone emerges.
A very different side.
That's when the couple sits down in
their cozy West Bloomfield home and get
out their crayons — sky blue, asparagus,
magenta. Then, with daughter Sophia, 3,
and son Noah, 1 1/2 ("But he's as intel-
ligent as a high school student — really,"
says Dad), the Stone family creates Rosh
Hashanah greeting cards.
"We absolutely love the holidays in our
home,' said David Stone, associate executive
director of the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, "and one of our favor-
ite traditions is making Rosh Hashanah
cards together. We get some construction
paper, and some scissors and markers and
put everything on our kitchen table. Then
we just get to work. The kids usually opt
for the traditional things: a shofar or apples
and honey, and let me assure you, objec-
tively, their art is amazing"
Both Dave and Tara, who works for
BBDO Detroit, enjoy getting together with
family for the holidays. Believe it or not,
every one of their relatives agrees with Dave
and Tara's assessment of their children's
artistic skills as brilliant. "When we get
together at our home for Rosh Hashanah,
we always decorate with pictures that the
kids have colored',' Stone says. "And we save
them from year to year, because we never
get tired of seeing their art."
Family Affair
In Hebrew, the word for family is mish-
pacha; in Yiddish, it's mishpocha. It liter-
ally means "family," which means anyone
who is a blood relative, or who is related
by marriage or who might be related or
maybe the entire Jewish people or really
close friends. Rosh Hashanah is definitely
a time for mishpacha. And so, in short,
there is nothing quite so wonderful as a
Rosh Hashanah table filled with moms
28
September 17 2009
Tarra and David Stone of West Bloomfield with their children, Sophia, 3.5, and Noah,
18 months
and dads, aunts and uncles, stepbrothers,
long-lost cousins and even your cranky
neighbor who always yells at his dog.
Besides the food, it's nice to be able to
offer a bit of fun for everyone who comes
to the table.
• For young children: It's traditional
to eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah;
some believe this is because each has 613
seeds, the same as the number of mitzvot.
Ask children to think of 613 things —
from the smallest, like changing seasons,
to the biggest, like a loving family — for
which they are appreciative.
Also, Rosh Hashanah celebrates the
birthday of the world. Give a gift back to
the Earth; volunteer to help pick up trash
in your area.
• Teens are often certain they know
everything. See if they really do when you
ask them these questions (answers below):
A)What singer said: "I do know that I
really love my tribe and a lot of its tradi-
tions, especially holidays like Passover and
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur"?
B)No word on her plans this year, but in
2008, this celebrity brought her 3-year-old
son David to Rosh Hashanah services at
the Kabbalah Center in New York City.
C)Which comedian says that his favor-
ite Jewish ritual is tashlikh?
D)"I, Carly" star Miranda Cosgrove
loves eating at the Hungry Cat restaurant
in Los Angeles, featuring dishes prepared
by which popular chef?
E)What's the name of the hip, folk-style
band whose contributors — Colin Stetson
of Arcade Fire, Brian Chase of the Yeah,
Yeah, Yeahs and Jeremiah Lockwood of
the Balkan Beat Box — created a musical
project in honor of Rosh Hashanah?
Answers:
A)Regina Spektor
B)Madonna
C)Michael Ian Black
D)Josh Rosenstein. Check out his Rosh
Hashanah brisket how-to on You Tube:
http://www.eatdrinkordie.comivideosi
1d21870e0a/rosh-hashanah brisket-josh-
rosenstein-from-josh-rosenstein
E) The Sway Machinery
•And for adults of all ages: Rosh
Hashanah is a time of reflection and
change. In what way will you change in
the coming year? In his book Man's Search
for Meaning, Victor Frankl said: "We who
lived in the concentration camps can
remember the men who walked through
the huts comforting others, giving away
their last piece of bread.
"They may have been few in number, but
they offer sufficient proof that everything
can be taken from a man but one thing:
The last of his freedoms — to choose one's
attitude in any given set of circumstances,
to choose one's own way:"