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| Note I wrote that was saved by my dad a”h |
Tonight, the 16th of MarCheshvon, is the 3rd yarhzeit of my dad, Albert Lyon Harris, Avraham ben Zorach. My brother made arrangements to be in town and we went to ma’ariv so that we could say kaddish together.
Of course, seeing my dad’s brother and sister with their spouses at our son’s bar mitzvah recently has brought up the natural feelings of loss, even before the yahrzeit. Not having my in-laws or my father present for our simcha was hard. However, the loss of a loved one in this world does help crystallize the feeling of loss the I now experience during Tisha B’av, the day of national mourning for the loss of the holy temple, the Beis Hamikdash. It also puts more feeling behind the 12th Ani Ma’amim which affirms our believe in the revival of the dead in the time of Moshiach.
The note above was something that my father saved, for some reason. My bar mitzvah was December 3, 1983. Later in the month we must have gone out for Chinese food and I wrote this note. I guess I gave it to my dad. About six years ago, he had purchased a Hebrew/English gemara Pesachim on eBay and sent it to me. Sitting between the pages was the note about the Chinese food. He got a tremendous kick out of the fact that before I kept Kosher I hated Chinese food, yet I now love it. His foresight to keep this note and send it to me is a reminder that he remembered the little things about me when I was growing up (that I had forgotten about) and figured that eventually I would change my tune and taste buds. We should all see our loved ones for who they are and for who they may become.
