Birthdays

11/18/2022

Growing up, I do not remember birthdays as being any kind of big deal. It’s kind of strange as we were a “survivor'' family of 5 and so grateful to have a second chance at life.

Why wouldn’t we want to party?

I think that it was because my family lived a very low key under the radar kind of life; always worried that we would be identified and found out as Jews. My dad thought ten times before signing any form or letter and would often use reams of paper practicing his signature.

He was always worried that he would be signing away the precious few dollars that he had saved into his bank account.

When you have had a young life of being hunted and persecuted, it is very hard to let your guard down.

Large gatherings and celebrations were not built into our DNA; birthdays were just like any other day.

At HANC, birthdays are a huge deal. Each child's birthday is a cause for donuts; everyday there are groups of kids who come to school loaded down with boxes of either Dunkin or Entemmans’s donuts of all flavors and degrees of freshness.

For Dunkin’s the dilemma is when to buy, the night before or early in the morning. Clearly, it depends on where the Kosher donut shop is located and if you are able to get up early enough to get the donuts before the school bus comes.

For Entemann’s, the preservatives keep them fresh long after the date that they are

baked;yummy and a lot cheaper too.

Every birthday boy or girl gives out the delicious treats to their classmates and if there are any extras, to the principals. The celebrants are usually joined by an entourage of friends to walk about distributing the treats.

When they get to me, knowing that my favorite is chocolate, they either have a chocolate one or apologize.

“Mrs. Deutsch, we have chocolate just for you!” Or as happened this week,”Mrs. Deutsch, I don’t have any more chocolate, my brother took the last one.”

It’s okay, after all it was her brother. Oh well. I only eat the tops anyway because as it is, on any given day, there sometimes can be a pile of 3 or 4 donuts piled up on my desk.

A lady has to show some self control, depending on the stress of the day, maybe not.

This week, a red headed first grade little boy celebrated a toothless birthday. He had only one chocolate left and there were two people in my office. This kid is a politician and smart, he quickly broke it in half and offered us each a piece.

One of us turned it down and so he quietly put the two halves together and offered the now pieced together whole donut to me.

Of course, I gladly took it, it was chocolate, my favorite.

There is no greater joy than watching our children celebrate milestones out in the open, freely and together.

Happy Birthday and Shabbat Shalom to all who are celebrating.