By Joel Magalnick , Editor, JTNews
A couple minutes into our conversation, Jennifer Muscatel McLeod had to turn away from the phone.
“She’s smiling at us,” she said.
Given that little Joeli Beth McLeod was all of five days old when her mom and I spoke, it may have been a little something burbling in that tiny tummy, but that doesn’t mean the new mom thinks any less of her brand new daughter.
“She was our little miracle,” McLeod said. “We’re totally smitten and absolutely in love.”
Joeli, born at 9:39 a.m. on January 1, 2012 to Jennifer and Jim McLeod of Mercer Island, is the first Jewish baby in Washington State this year. She weighed a very healthy seven pounds, nine ounces and measured 19-3/4 inches.
Joeli is the newest member of a family that spans several years between kids — her brother Eli is 11 and her two half brothers, Jacob and Aaron, are in their early 20s. She’s also part of a family that spans generations of local Jewish history. On Jennifer’s side, Joeli’s great-grandmother, Esther Muscatel, is a native who now has five great-grandchildren. Esther’s sister, incidentally, was another first: Fortuna Calvo was the first Sephardic Jewish baby born in Seattle. That’s one branch of that side of the family. The other is descended from the Thals, a multi-generation Ashkenazi family from around the state. The Jewish ancestry on Jim’s side is considerably different: He and several members of his family converted to Judaism many years ago.
The family are members of Temple De Hirsch Sinai, and Jennifer said that with Joeli they are “very proud to carry on and teach her lots of important Jewish traditions. She’ll go to Sunday school like her brother, and we look forward to the next milestone of her Bat Mitzvah.”
There is, of course, one Bar Mitzvah to come before that, not even two years down the road. One would hope that the little sister, who at that point will be a toddler still getting her sea legs, doesn’t upstage the star of the show.
But as far as Eli is concerned, he’s very excited to be a big brother.
“He really, really, really, really wanted a sibling in the house,” Jennifer said.
And now that he’s got his wish?
“He is such a good brother… he’s very helpful,” Jennifer said. “Even during the pregnancy there was so much that he helped with.”
That included a move into a new house while his mom was pregnant, and making sure the configuration of where everyone sleeps was just right.
“He chose the bedrooms,” Jennifer said, “and he wanted to make sure [Joeli’s] room was always between our room and his room so that she was always protected.”