(excerpt)

Dad says I was born on a special day–Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  He calls me his New Year’s baby.

Rosh Hashanah is on a different date every year, like Thanksgiving or Easter.  So I’ve really only been a New Year’s baby once.

But this year my birthday’s on another special day.  It’s called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  I don’t know exactly what “Day of Atonement” means.  Dad says it’s the most serious Jewish holiday of all.

He says that my birthday this year is going to be a little different, that we’re not going to celebrate it the way we usually do.  But he tells me it’s going to be wonderful in its own way.

I wonder what he means.