Jeff gazed at the picture that hung on the wall of Emilie's childhood home. He took a step closer, examining each detail of the black and white photos. His focus was quickly drawn to one print in particular. It was a stunning shot of a little girl, around the age of four, standing alone in a dingy summer dress with a doll hanging loosely in her hand. She stood on a mound of dupery that appeared to be the remnants of a house, with a heart breaking expression of sadness on her young face. The photo was so moving that it nearly brought a tear to his eye.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

A voice said from behind him. Jeff turned to see Janis standing over his shoulder, holding a glass of white wine in her hand.

"Yes. The one with the little girl is absolutely exquisite."

"It is quite powerful, isn't it? There was this devastating hurricane up in Maine a couple of years ago, a lot of families lost everything they had. Emilie decided to volunteer her entire summer vacation helping out up there and she took her camera with her. After she printed the pictures she begged me to hang that one up. She said it reminded her of how lucky she was to have everything when so many have nothing."

"Emilie took this?"

"She took all of them."

"I had no idea she was a photographer.

"Oh yes, she uses to be excellent photographer until she gave it up to work at that farkatkerecord store. I tell her all the time, she's wasting her talents at that place but she never listens to me. And why should she I'm only her mother, the reason for her very existence. There's no telling Emilie she's wrong. Even if it does mean she wouldn't have to work for that shmendrek of a boss" Janis huffed before she turned towards the dinning room leaving Jeff alone in his thoughts. He had no idea Emilie even knew how to operate a camera much less print all these remarkable pictures. He couldn't help but wonder why she would ever quit something she was so obviously good at. He had to go find her and ask.

"Okay, when my father finishes the prayer he'll say L'shanah tovah. And then we all repeat it. So let me hear you try it." Emilie said quickly briefing Jeff on the accident traditions as she straighten his plain white T-shirt.

"Le shanna toba." He repeated back to her "How's that?"

"Maybe its best if you just whisper it." she answered.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were a photographer?"

Emilie paused for a moment, taken back by Jeff's seemingly random question.

"Because I'm not. It was just something I did in school for fun."

"But you're brilliant. That picture of the little girl is breathe-taking. Why would you ever give that up?"

"Did my mother tell you to ask me that?" she asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"No one asked me anything. I just wanna know."

"Well you can tell 'no one' that because I've pretty much been on my own since the day I graduated high school that my photography kinda took a backseat to my need to not starve to death." The words flew out of her with an unintentional amount of sarcasm. She took a deep breathe to clam herself down. She didn't mean to be so rude to Jeff it was just a topic she felt like she had been explaining to everyone for a long time. "Look, it was cool for a while but I had rent and a massive amount of college loans and cool just wasn't paying them. So I got the job at Olympic and started doing more paying gigs with the band, it just didn't leave anytime for printing photos. Besides my dinky little apartment doesn't exactly give a lot of space for a dark room."

"I understand that. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"No it's not you Jeff. I always feel like I have to have my defenses up when I'm around my family. I didn't mean to jump down your throat like that."

"It's cool, it happens to best of us." He grinned "Come on, lets eat. I want some of that fine Jewish food I've been smelling all night."

"Yeah we better get some brisket before my cousins get to it."

Emilie smiled up at him and took his hand in her own as they filed into the dinning room where the rest of the family had already begun taking their seats. She chose her chair, making sure there was one right next to it for Jeff. They sat down and waited for Emilie father to begin the prayer. Jeff looked up at the older man that sat at the head of the table with his gray hair and protruding belly. He was quiet and reserved; the complete opposite of his wife and daughters. Through out the entire night he had barely uttered two words to Jeff besides a "hello" and a "nice to meet you". It almost made him a little nervous. He knew how to deal with overbearing fathers and he knew how to deal with possessive fathers but Garry was a whole new deal. Jeff didn't really know how to read him. Did he not like him or does he just take time to warm up to people? And if that was the case, how long does he take till he decides whether a guy was worthy of his daughter or not. Garry adjusted his glasses and ran his fingers over his thick white beard before taking the glass of wine in his hand. The room fell silent as he rose from his seat.

"Family and friends" his deep voice echoed "tonight we have gathered to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, our New Year, the day where we reflect on the events of the past year and we welcome the beginning of a new one. Now if you will all please raise your glasses for the Kiddush to bless us all for the up coming new year."

Everyone complied as they raised their glasses in the air. Jeff watched in allure as Garry began the prayer.

"Barukh atah Adonai, Elohaynu, melekh ha-olam borei p'riy ha-gafen. Barukh atah Adonai, Elohaynu, melekh ha-olam asher bachar banu mee-kol am, v'rom'manu mee-kol lashon v'kee'd'shanu b'meetzvotav, va-teeten lanu, Adonai Elohaynu, b'ahavah et yom ha-shabbat ha-zeh v'et yom ha-zikkaron ha-zeh, yom zikhron t'ruah b'b'ahavah b'ahava meekra kodesh, zeicher leetzeeyat meetz'rayeem Kiy vanu vacharta v'otanu qidashta mikol ha'amiym u'd'var'kha emet v'qayam la'ad Barukh atah Adonai, melekh al kol ha-aretz m'qadeish ha-shabbat v' Yisra'el v'yom ha-zikkaron. Blessed are You, Lord, our God, king of the universe who creates the fruit of the vine. Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe who has chosen us from among all people, and exalted us above every tongue and sanctified us with his commandments, and you gave us, Lord our God, with love this day of Sabbath and this day of remembrance, a day of remembrance of shofar blowing with love a holy convocation, a memorial of the exodus from Egypt. Indeed, you have chosen us and made us holy from all peoples and your word is true and established for ever. Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King over all the world, who sanctifies the sabbath and Israel and the Day of Remembrance. Amen."

"Amen" everyone repeated.

"Happy Rosh Hashanah everyone, L'shanah tovah."

"L'shanah tovah." They all repeated, including Jeff. Emilie smiled to her self as she heard the properly pronounced Hebrew words coming from Jeff's lips. It meant a lot to her that he was so involved in learning about her beliefs, even if it was completely different from anything he was raised to believe. Emilie looked across the table at her mother who also had noticed Jeff's devotion to her daughter. All she could do was grin as Janis flashed her the 'okay so I was wrong' look that Emilie had been waiting for all night. An overwhelming sense of joy came over Emilie's heart as she looked back over at her loving boyfriend. Feeling her eyes upon him Jeff gazed up from his overflowing plate of food. Without saying a word he placed his hand on her as if to tell her he was feeling the same way.