Shabbat Gathering: Thank you.

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Here we go.

I was just thinking of my mother and what an influence she had on me. My Mom had been raised a little lady by her mother. My grandmother had been sent off to finishing school in Washington DC and ended up having lunch with Eleanor Roosevelt for her accomplishments in school. Good manners ran deep. My other grandmother sold china and silverware to the freshly minted oil barons of West Texas. She too knew how to set a table and serve a meal.

My good manners were Very Important to my family and, as I grew up, I was instilled with them. When I started using the library by myself, I discovered there were such things as etiquette books that delved deeply into all its different aspects. I became a good friend to Amy Vanderbilt and Emily Post. Etiquette became a compass for me.

I think the most important thing I learned about etiquette is that it’s based on gratitude. This is my mother’s third yarhtzeit and I’m very grateful to her for all she did for me. And it’s Thanksgiving, so gratitude is in the air. For me, the key tenet of good etiquette is expressing gratitude and thanks. Some of my friends kid me about being the “king of thank you notes” and I do write a lot of them. I keep boxes of correspondence cards on my shelves along with some nice post cards I’ve found along the way. Old habits die hard.

The writer Anne Lamont famously wrote that there are three different types of prayer: Help. Thank you. And Wow. This week, thanks to Thanksgiving, my week has been filled with “Thank yous.” And I want to take this opportunity to tell you, “Thank you,” for all you’ve done for me. When I was in Arkansas taking care of my Mom, your support meant so much to me. I was not alone. Afterwards, when I had to pull my life together again and move back to Madison, you‘ve been there for me. Thank you.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)

All my love,
brian.

PS

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