Here’s an official White House picture of President Barack Obama checking in on First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia as they prepare burritos while volunteering at the DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., on Martin Luther King Day, January 20, 2014.
I remember celebrating Martin Luther King Day at home when I was growing up. My sister Rose would come home for the weekend from college. Edmund, my kid brother, who never left his little attic, would come down for the MLK supper. The whole day, the house would be filled with the smells of burritos Mom was baking in the kitchen.
I remember the Kum ba yah carolers outside our door, and how Sparky, our poodle, would bark and bark at them, like she, too, wanted to be part of the celebrations.
Rabbi Nimitz, his wife Dora and their six daughters would drop by for a nibble of Mom’s traditional burritos.
“Can’t have a real MLK day without Lily’s burritos,” Rabbi Nimitz would joke around. Of course, there was that one time he choked on one of Mom’s burritos and Dad tried to save his life with the Heimlich maneuver.
The new Rabbi didn’t come to visit nearly as often.