Sanctification

I have really struggled with this topic, not knowing exactly what was “expected” of it.  So after much thought and talk with my Rabbi, I think I understand now.  Lets first start probably where I should have, the dictionary.  Sanctify: to make, declare, regard as, or show to be sacred or holy; to set apart to sacred use; to free from sin or evil; to consecrate; to invest with a sacred character; to make efficient as the means of holiness.

In my previous life there were only three events that were sanctified.  There was the blessing said over me when I was a baby, my baptism and then my confirmation.  None of these events meant very much to me because I was just doing what I was supposed to do. 

Now my life and my journey have changed all of that.  I could still say I am doing what I am supposed to do but it is with much thought and preparedness that I do it now and it means a great deal to me.

I joyously sanctify Shabbat every week and I look forward to it.  Many weeks I am at synagogue worshiping but when I get home I still find it important to light my Shabbat candles and let them burn in my window.  Whether I make it to services or not I try to light the candles every week.  They might be short candles, if it is late, or tall pretty ones but I choose to light them to sanctify my Shabbat. 

I sanctify the food I put in my mouth.  I choose not to keep kosher but I choose to be aware of what I eat.  There is no pork in my house anymore because I choose to obey that law.  Passover was very tough for me since I am still on the learning curve of what one can and can not eat during Passover.  I have not fully investigated the differences between being Sephardi  and Ashkenazi Jews so am not sure where I will choose to be.  Every time I would eat I would have to really put thought into what I was thinking of eating, so I was sanctifying my food. 

The one big event coming up soon that will be sanctified is my conversion.  I will meet with the beit din to see if in their mind I have learned, lived and understand enough to officially become Jewish.  If I am given the thumbs up by the members of my beit din then I will go to the mikvah where I will dunk myself three times before G-D in a ritual of cleansing and rebirth of me as a Jew. 

After the beit din and the mikvah I have one more great event ahead of me immediately after, my bar mitzvah.  I have been taking a class and have been preparing for my group bar mitzvah the weekend of Shavuot.  I can not think of a better way to start the next part of my journey then celebrating receiving the Torah by being able to read from the Torah.