Happy Birthday to Jew

Yesterday was my 37th (solar) birthday. I figured a post the day after would be less self-serving than on the day. Was I correct? :-)

Anyhow, our friends at AskMoses (btw, AskMoses is a cool site that is basically a live chat with an educated observant Jew--often a Rabbi--that has a great archive of previous Q&As) have a nice Q&A on Judaism's view on birthdays.

A Jewish birthday is a very auspicious day. Our sages tell us that on a person’s birthday his “mazel” is dominant. Your birthday is a day to express gratitude to G-d for bringing you into this world, entrusting you with the mission of illuminating it with the radiance of Torah and Mitzvahs. This day, which is akin to a personal Rosh Hashanah, is the appropriate time to recommit to the mission at hand, resolving that the added maturity and experience gained during the past year will cause the following year to be even more productive and fruitful.

My Jewish (lunar) birthday is September 2nd, so I've still got time to do all that AskMoses is suggesting, but I definitely took some time yesterday to thank G-d for all the blessings in my life, despite the tough year that we've had.

One way I thanked G-d was by enjoying nature...at the East Orange Golf Course in Short Hills, and at New Waterlands Park in South Orange. You see, in addition to it being my birthday weekend, it was also my last weekend as a temporary bachelor so getting in some golf and softball was definitely important.

After my wonderful family, the blessing I am definitely most grateful for is my friendships--some of which have been going strong for almost 25 years. In the last month or so, during which I was ensconced in bachelorhood. I've had the pleasure of spending significant amounts of quality time with my best friends from HS, college and business school, and my best female friend. How lucky am I?!