Happy Friday! Shabbat Shalom!

And…hyvää viikonloppua! 

A little known but very important fact to know about my daughter Stephanie, is that her father’s grandmother was from Finland… which means that this girl loves her dairy… cheese… cream sauce… milk shakes etc…

And in addition to being Finnish ( how cool is it that she has relatives there?) she is Mexican on my side which makes her very multi/ ethnic/ racial as my father’s ancestors were quite diverse.

One group we descend from are Sephardic Jews, ( thus my use of Shabbat shalom which means Peaceful Sabbath. ) And I believe another ancestral group are the Maronite Christians from Lebanon.

While it is factual that my ancestry shows Lebanese and ancient Phoenician … and that I have found Arabic surnames in our lineage… the Maronite is something I pieced together after discovering that the majority of Lebanese who came to Mexico when our great greats did…were Maronite Christian’s fleeing Ottoman persecution.

This is very very meaningful to me as a Christian for a couple reasons…

The Maronites still use Aramaic (the language of Jesus).

They trace back to St. Peter and the church of Antioch.

Lebanon is suffering.

They are closely related to those in Gaza.

When I look at the news, the bones within my rib cage separate as Jews and their cousins… our ancestors … try to destroy each other…

I just want peace… for you.. for my daughter.. for the world …

and to be thankful… that my daughter and I have pudding to eat for Shabbat.

Shlomo lokh. ( Aramaic)

Peace to you:)

Kimberly