Five months ago, Hashem blessed my husband Daniel and me with our first son. After having our two lovely girls, we wanted to have a boy as well. We went to our friend Rabbi Elchanan Shoff’s son’s brit before I became pregnant, and he gave us a blessing that we should soon have a son. There, he served a meat breakfast – my first time having meat at a brit! Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book! – and Daniel and I said to each other, “If we have a boy, we are hiring this caterer.”
Fast forward one year, November of 2024, and there we were, enjoying that same delicious breakfast at our son’s brit. We named our boy Asher, after Daniel’s childhood rabbi, of blessed memory, Rabbi Asher Abittan of The Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach. Rabbi Abittan, who always had a smile on his face, would tell people, “Your face is rashut harabim, public domain, so you must always smile!”
And let me tell ya, Asher is the smiliest little boy with the sweetest disposition. Even when he’s crying, he’s laughing too. When he wakes up in the morning, he smiles; right before he goes to bed at night, he’s happy. And he smiles not just for me and the rest of his family – he smiles at everyone, brightening their day. Having our little Asher, our son, is such a blessing!
