Home for the holidays

It’s a small fraction of the IU student body that goes “home for the holidays” before midterms.

On Saturday, Jewish students celebrated the New Year, Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew. Muslim students celebrated Eid al Fitr this weekend, observing the end of Ramadan.
For many students, even though these important religious moments fell conveniently on the weekend this year, the trip home was impossible because of time or financial constraints.

I couldn’t make it all the way to my home to Minnesota, but I was warmly welcomed for matzo ball soup and brisket at my father’s second cousin’s house near Chicago.
When my late grandfather started organizing extended family reunions 30 years ago, he couldn’t have known the legacy he would leave behind, but it’s only because of him that I enjoyed laughter with cousins, a home-cooked New Year’s dinner, and the genuine warmth of family this weekend.

After picking up two cousins on the way, I arrived at my Aunt Judy’s. I had never been to her house, but felt completely at home from the moment we walked in the door.
Not everyone has such positive associations with family.

A summer at home can make even the most patient and loving young person anxious to live free of their parents and family again.

For many of my close friends, the very mention of the word family stirs up painful feelings and memories. In every family there are divisions, isolations and regrets.

For those in the Jewish faith, the year 5770 holds the promise of a blank slate, especially as Judaism’s upcoming day of repentance offers the invitation to apologize and to forgive.

For everyone else, the season before we’re all bathed in a sea of red and green offers an opportunity to reconnect without the pressure and craziness of the December holidays.

The off-season Jewish holidays are a nice reminder that the warmth of family is as heartwarming in September as it is around the Thanksgiving turkey once the weather turns cold.

Classes are picking up, and as we get into the swing of the semester connections to our families get lost in the shuffle of school, work and fun.

Skype your siblings. Call your grandparents. If you haven’t seen your cousins for a few years, Facebook them.

Chances are you can find your uncles and aunts on there, too. Friend with caution.

I’ve always appreciated the opportunity to reflect on the previous 12 months that
comes with the fall Jewish holy days. The beginning of the school year and the Jewish year fall together, and this year I’m committing to family - to the people who will always make their house my home.

In college, they say your friends become your family. It’s true.

But this year, I’m lucky to say that I’m also finding dear friends within my extended family.

Even if we didn’t get along, I know that someday they would open their home to my kids, across the country and unable to get home for the holidays.