Jacob Rosen

Best Birthday - With so many great birthdays to choose from, It's hard to choose a favorite. However, at the risk of sounding cliche, I'm going to have to go with my 13th birthday. I was one of those lucky individuals to come from a family with slightly more than moderate means, so my Bar Mitzvah was a large one. I got writers cramp some weeks beforehand, both writing a speach, and invitations, but when the big day arrived, and everyone was there and I got to read from the Torah, for the first time. I actually chanted, and for a wonder, my voice didn't squeek or crack. Afterward, when I was complimented on my speech, and overall conducting of the service, I felt 10 ft tall, well not quite, but I'm not sure how to describe the feeling other than the afterglow of a job well done after a lot of effort. Yeah, that was good.

Worst Birthday - December 7th, 1996. I was in my 2nd and final year in the active Israeli Army. In fact I was weeks away from reserve status. My girlfriend of a year had dumped me, I had a cold, and I was hit by a raid. That's right bullets flying, lots of bullets, dust clogging my already moist nostrils, more noise than I care to remember, and here comes this crazy asshole carrying his grenade, pin already pulled. Luckily the Sergeant was one hell of a shot, our would be destroyer was stopped a good 10 yards short and we were able to take cover. The action didn't take long, but I was left with clay in my nose and some fatigues full of holes. I should have got rid of them, but I kept em. Oh yeah, did I mention that Hanukah was only about a week away at this point? Yeah, that one sucked.