הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא ☼ צֵאתְכֶם לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאָכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא
  שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת‏‏ מַלְאֲכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בּוֹאֲכֶם לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בָּרְכוּנִי לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאָכֵי עֶלְיוֹן מִמֶּלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים

• Who: Patty and Matt
• Where: Cleveland Park
• What: Veggie omelet, medium coffee

Today, 25 Av, 5771, at approximately 10:15am, Patricia Amaro Pina officially became a Jew!! Shalom!!! Shalom in the home!!! Nine months of talmud,  introspection, and scripture have finally payed off!!! Congrats to Patty!!

In our ripe old era of adulthood, there aren’t that many definitive DAYS in our lives anymore. I’m talking the kind of days we had growing up—where yesterday you were elementary school but TODAY you are in junior high! Or yesterday you were in brownies, but TODAY you’re kissing that ugly sash goodbye because now you’re a real full-fledged girlscout! Becoming a camp counselor, losing your virginity, getting your drivers license, graduating from college—these are all pinnacle DAYS when something happened. And as much as we’re all glad to not worry about getting our first period, aside from the Big 4 MHKRs (Marriage, House, Kids, Retirement), there just aren’t a lot of monumental DAYS in our lives to look forward to anymore.

On Thursday, however, we had the rare experience of witnessing our adult friend Patty Pina have a DAY.  On Wednesday, Patty was just another non-practicing self-deprecating Catholic, growing up in mildly religious home with some minor community-based God association centered mostly around food and some token quotes from an ancient historical text. But today, on Thursday, Patty left that life behind to become… just another non-practicing self-deprecating JEW, living in a mildly religious home with some minor community-based G-d association centered mostly around food and some token quotes from an ancient historical text. (Man, I should have been around during the Crusades—really could have smoothed things over for everyone.) She justified her faith before a panel of rabbis, said prayers, purified herself in an ancient tub, and held her first torah, fresh from the ark. Patty had a DAY.

Patty, forever in your life you will look back on your bagel sandwich from Firehook Bakery in Cleveland Park and remember your last meal as a little shiksa from Rhode Island—because now that you’re a Jew, that’s the last bagel you’re ever going to eat without whitefish.

Mazel Tov!