Every day....

In the United States, today is Mother’s Day. So that got me to thinking about why we have or need such a day. On Wikipedia I read:

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements Father's Day, a similar celebration honoring fathers.

This was followed by descriptions of the holiday in various countries, and this one piqued my interest:

Israel

The Jewish population celebrates Mother's Day on Shevat 30 of the Jewish calendar, which falls between 30 January and 1 March. The celebration was set as the same date that Henrietta Szold died. Henrietta had no biological children, but her organization Youth Aliyah rescued many Jewish children from Nazi Germany and provided for them. She also championed children's rights. Szold is considered the "mother" of all those children, and that is why her annual remembrance day was set as Mother's Day. The holiday has evolved over time, becoming a celebration of mutual love inside the family, called Family Day. Mother's Day is mainly celebrated by children at kindergartens. There are no longer mutual gifts among members of the family, and there is no longer any commercialization of the celebration. It is not an official holiday either.

As I continue to ponder this, my main thought is that I am very fortunate that, as a mother and grandmother, I do not feel any need for this day whatsoever. I am certain Barry feels similarly about Father’s Day. We are blessed and grateful to have two wonderful and devoted daughters 365 days of the year, and there has not been a year in the past 36 during which I have felt this more acutely than this past one.

So I want to turn this day on its head and thank my beautiful daughters, Simmie and Dina, for giving me the honor of being their mother. I want to thank Ronen and Aaron for letting me into their lives. And I want to thank Joshua, Eliana, Gabriella, and Maya for bringing so much joy to their parents and grandparents every day.

Love,

Rebecca (aka Mom, aka Nana)