Responding to the Call

A little over a year ago, I received a summons. Jury Duty. Not the first time that I have been called to serve. But given Peach’s recent birth (at that time) and his nutritional needs, I was unable to serve. In the state of California, this does not excuse me from my duty. Nor should it.

Nursing moms can defer jury duty for six months at a time and this is exactly what I did. Twice. Put it completely out of my mind.

Until…

I realized that I was scheduled to report for duty this month. On September 29. Which is the 29th of Elul. Erev Rosh Hashanah.

In a perfect world, I would want to spend the day of Erev RH maintaining vocal rest. Taking a long bath (no, not mikvah. Can’t imagine leaving that to the last minute!). A relaxing pilgrimage to Sephora. A restorative nap. And I could forego these activities in order to meet my civic duty.

But how can I honestly go into a courtroom knowing full well that I am unable to be impaneled?

So I called 800-SRV-JURY and spoke with a very nice lady. Who gave me another number to call. Since I had already postphoned service, I would need to speak with the court directly. Called that number and spoke with another very nice lady. Explained that it was the Jewish New Year and that I did not want to shirk my responsibility and could she please assign me to the end of October.

She made the switch. Guessing that she doesn’t speak with very many people who want to serve.