My friend and colleague, Rabbi Bec Richman, is a soferet or traditional Jewish scribe and is currently writing her first Torah. She recently sent me a video of her writing my younger son's name in said Torah.

My older son's best friend who is also our neighbor, was at our home when I showed all the children the video.

I explained, “This is a Torah. It is written in Hebrew and has different letters. We pray in Hebrew.”

The neighbor child replied, “I pray to God.” I affirmed that we pray to God as well.

The neighbor child, spoken with the incredulity of a parochial school kindergartener, asked, “Why do YOU pray to God?”

I paused, not quite sure of how to proceed in this discourse. But my son, while running outside to play, answered “Because we all live in God’s universe.”

I can possibly take a little bit of credit for my son's wise words but I'm sure much more of it goes to his teachers at OKCJS and to the Maker of Us All.

-Rabbi Goldman