How Good It is

Breslin-family
My family has come to appreciate the Hinei MaTov service and look forward to it. It’s not a children’s service, it’s not even a family service; it’s a time for friends and family when “it’s good to be together” and share the peace and meaning of Shabbat at the different levels we find ourselves. It’s been a wonderful opportunity for families to lead the service, which our family has, and bring our own passion to it.

One Shabbat, the Lasiter family gave out slips of paper as talking points relating to the parsha. When our family led, our parsha concerned kosher laws and we played a game where we held up pictures of animals and challenged kosher or not kosher (deer – yes, giraffe – kind of, but no).

Charlie Breslin Bar Mitzvah 1981So a few days before our June 6, Hinei MaTov service I could not help noticing with the reminder email that my parsha from 34 years ago (yes I’m 34+13 years old) Bamidbar (Numbers) 12:1-16 was on that very day! I thought a great way of marking the simchah would be to volunteer to read my parsha at the service and then Nancy suggested we offer a modest sum ($100) in honor of the day to help sponsor the Kiddush. Not only does Hinei MaTov meet kids at their level, but adults too. In the synagogue where I had my bar-mitzvah no one learned trope like the Shomrei kids (who amaze me). Even though the portion is only 16 lines, I still struggle with reading Hebrew and almost decided not do it because I really did not have enough time to practice, but Morah Sara assured me I could do as much as or as little I wanted on the day. So in front of our community I struggled through the whole 16 lines; when I felt I was going painfully slow, I looked up from the chumash at everyone’s faces and keenly felt a wave of energy and support that carried me to the end. After I was finally done, I was quite choked up when the congregation regaled me in “Siman tov u-mazel tov.”

I was very embarrassed that people thanked Nancy and me for sponsoring the Kiddush. To me, $100 contribution was hardly sponsoring, barely a drop in the bucket, however Aileen Grossberg made it a point to explain to us just how much any contribution can enhance a Kiddush. You don’t have to sponsor the entire Kiddush or contribute a lot for the whole community to benefit and it’s such a fun and meaningful way to celebrate. Sharing what you can, financially, spiritually, and/or emotionally is not only the spirit of Hinei MaTov, or of the oneg Shabbat, it speaks to the very essence of Shomrei Emunah and the Jewish people – How good it is when we are together. How good it is when we can share together.

Latest posts by Charlie Breslin (see all)

4 thoughts on “How Good It is

  1. I was so proud of you, Charlie, reading your 16 lines! You did such a great job. Seeing you, Nancy and the kids is one of the reasons I go to HMT. And to share the experience with you and all the people that show up. Thanks for writing such a terrific post. I love the photos. Now I can see what Lila will look like in her Bat Mitzvah photo! Hopefully her glasses will be a bit more modern.

What do you think?