More Losing My Religion

I fell for it again! The guilt causing me to come back to shul. Rabbi Yossi prevailed upon me to come last Saturday, to honor the anniversary of my Dad's death -- to calm his eternal soul. I went, and fumbled through the Hebrew transliteration at the Bima, when I was called to the Torah. Afterwards, Yossi whispered that it was traditional for a Yahrzeit son like me to "sponsor" the kiddush lunch -- the small snack afterwards. I always piok up the bill with Yossi, so I said of course. The lunch, for the 30 or so assembled, was some salads and challah bread, and soda. The cost couldn't have exceeded $100. I left the shul, still not "feeling the Lord," but happy. On Monday, I sent in a check for $180 -- ten times the mystical number of 18, which signifies life in Hebrew. Yesterday I got the celestial bill. I was invoiced for $250!!!!! Apparently that's the cost of the kiddush lunch. Wifey, who knows my buttons well, remarked "Oh boy -- that's the worst thing the rabbi could have done." You hate being unappreciated and nickled and dimed." OVer the years, my partner Paul have given donations well north of $100K. We provided the interest free mortgage that allowed him to purchase the property where the center now stands. We were the MACHERS -- the big men on Hebrew campus. Now, donations have trickeled off, of course. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Someone's gotta pay the freight, and schleppers get tagged for the surcharges. But sorry, Dad. In the future, your soul will have depend on the prayers I say to the Big Man when I'm standing by the ocean, or Biscayne Bay. Dad taught me his revulsion to organized religion. Maybe in some metaphysical way, he was responsible for my receiving the bill for $70. Dad always taught, that above all, don't be a schmuck. I'll try not to be in the future...