I am not a particularly religious man.....

“What you think, you become.

What you feel, you attract.

What you imagine, you create.”

~ Buddha

Make no mistake, I am not a particularly religious man.

Prayer is not something I engage in.

I can't say that I have strong belief in a supreme being.

I am by no means a Talmudic scholar.

What I am and what I do hold dear to me are traditions.

In our home, for the past 3 decades, it has been our tradition to have Shabbat dinner each and every Friday night.

While the number of attendees to this weekly gathering has changed significantly over the years, the core group,the Flock of Spiegels, has managed to keep this alive .

Every week, we gather to eat together.

Every week, I spend the bulk of my Friday afternoon preparing dinner.

Every week we light candles and make kiddush (the blessing over wine) and hamotzi (the blessing over the bread).

Every week we sit and talk and laugh and catch up.

Every week we are once again a family.

That is until this stupid quarantine went into effect.

Now, Friday night looks just like any other night of the week.

There is no Shabbat music playing as I prepare for our weekly get together.

This is very sad to me.

There is no Shabbat in my life right now.

I hope and yes I pray, that soon this will be over and like some bad dream be forgotten about as quickly as possible.

My fear is that there may in fact be that dreaded "new normal" and the one thing I cherished most in my life will be a thing of the past.

I can't predict what the future will hold.

Que sera sera?

What ever will be will in fact be.

I just know that my heart yearns for my Friday's to return.

There are no guarantees.

And I hate living with just memories.

Shabbat Shalom (or have a good Friday night!)