Preparing for My Messianic Jewish Simcha

Wow, I'm starting this page with trepidation because I am not a planner.  I know, I hear you,  fail to plan,  plan to fail.  Is that your voice I'm hearing my precious sister?  But as I have been searching the web for information, and looking at how other people do this, I am finding it hard to gather my thoughts and make decisions.

I know that I will have to speak on my Torah portion, Re'eh | ראה | "See "   Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26-16:17. That's exciting!  Hmm.  Don't you think five chapters is alot to cover.  One of the verses should leap out at me right?  Well, I should be able to focus on  just 1 or 2 verses, right?  Or maybe not.  Oh no, I feel like I'm back in college, trying to prepare for a final.  Yikes!

But wait.  I checked and the Torah portion I was born under has moved.  It is 2 weeks earlier this year.  What now?  That would make my reading, Ki Tetze | כי תצא | "When you go forth "  Devarim (Deuteronomy) 21:10-25:19. 

How does that happen?  Don't quote me, but I think it has to do with the calendar based on lunar months and changes to the Torah portions that occur on a leap year.  The year I was born was a leap year and may account for why Re'eh was read on the last week of August.  While this year it will be read on August 13.

By the time August comes around this year, I will (should) have the blessings before and after the reading of the Torah, totally memorized.  I need to continue to practice.  Plan:  I will ask my family not to interrupt me when they hear me canting.  Wait, is that a knock on the door?  Cancel plan.  I forgot, plans won't work in my house.  Bummer.

I'm a very practical person.  I prefer to keep things simple and not over the top.  So while I like the idea of the following, I'm not convinced I need to do any of this:

Send out invitations      Yes  No  
Have it catered              Yes  No
Sefardic Food                Yes  No
American Food              Yes  No
Puerto Rican Food         Yes  Yes  No?
Serve wine                     Yes  No
Have Music                    Yes  No
Have Flowers                  Yes  No
Take Family for Dinner  Yes  No


(Space for my list to grow)

See where I'm going with this.

I thought this bit of trivia regarding the Sabbath on the week of my birth was interesting. On Sept 3, 1948, candle lighting time in San Juan, Puerto Rico was at 6:19 PM. The following day, Havdalah was at 7:18 PM. 

TO BE CONTINUED