We've had a busy week here first commemorations, then celebrations. For Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, it was a lot of blue and white uniforms. A lot of sirens. A lot of somber testimonies. A lot of sad songs (I think Israel specializes in sad songs. They love to make you cry. They wait all year just to cram all those sad sad songs into 2 days..). But theres always that light at the end of the tunnel. In this case, it was Yom Ha'atzmaut. A lot of flags, a lot of BBQs, a lot of fun, and no blue and white uniforms- but I'll get back to that later... Everyone keeps asking, how was it to celebrate your first Yom Haatzmaut as an olah? Well, to be honest, I was thinking to myself that this is the first year I actually don't have to celebrate Yom Haatzmaut. I mean, now that I live here... I have nothing left to prove. I always used to feel a huge responsibility to go to the shul or school programs, and surely to the Israeli Day Parade, and always to march no less. Sure, all these things were fun and nice and interesting, but year after year its the same old, same old. Nevertheless, someone like me never let herself miss any Israel related event. Never ever, period. I always felt obligated to demonstrate my love and support of Israel in public. Finally, I live here, and its the one time I don't need to do it. Its just assumed. So it took a bit more effort to get me off my couch on my one free night of the month, but it happened. I went out with a friend to all the local mesibot (parties), saw some beautiful fireworks over the city of Modiin, and it turned out to be a nice night. At one of these mesibot, the band was singing a new remix of the classic "Am Yisrael Chai". There were tons of people- mostly kids and some adults, singing and dancing to the music. The band leader sang, "Ani Chai, V'Am Yisrael Chai". It suddenly hit me... that me, living here, is significant. Not just personally significant, but nationally. Ani Chai- I live, I live here. This is my land, and I have a stake in it, and I'm not going anywhere. Needless to say, it was a powerful moment for me.
The next morning we went on a short hike at Sataf, and then met the Goldbergs and crew in a park near Bar Giyora. It was a wonderful day, the weather was perfect, and the Israelis were perfect. Smiley, friendly, and relaxed. I loved watching what they had brought for their barbecues- everything but the kitchen sink. Literally. We were at the Sataf hiking grounds, and though we were there to hike, many other families were there to barbecue and relax. As we stood online at the drinking fountain, (which was clearly labeled so), a woman approached the fountain to wash her pot and knives with a sponge and dishwashing soap! Well, when you barbecue once a year, I guess you have to get it right. Many people brought whole sets of tables and chairs, mattresses, tents, and hammocks. We even saw a family put up a zip line!The funny thing is though, while it was my first year celebrating Yom Haatzmaut as an Israeli, it was my first year NOT wearing blue and white on Yom Haatzmaut. For Israelis, blue and white is what you wear to a ceremony, or to a religous observance. The kids wear blue and white in school on Rosh Chodesh. Everyone wears blue and white on Yom Hazikaron. But Yom Haatzmaut is considered neither of those. Its really like July 4th. Its vacation, and no one tells you what to wear on vacation! So I come to the barbecue and I'm wearing yellow and black, Ayelet is wearing pink and white, Yaakov is wearing white and khaki. I see Zeva's whole family is wearing blue and white. So I say "Zeva, why are you wearing blue and white?" and she says, "Its Yom Haatzmaut!" and I say, "But look around you, you're the only Israeli family in this park wearing blue and white!" And I was right.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Matza and Peanut Butter
As I sit here writing this, some of you are eating a nice big bowl of Cheerios or maybe a grilled cheese sandwich, and some of you are still chowing down on some matza brei. Our religion is so weird, isn't it? This morning however, I ate none of those. I ate matza with peanut butter and jelly. Now, why on earth would I still be eating matza if I don't have to?! Maybe its becuase I wanted to know what it felt like to be able to eat kitniyot on Pesach. No, thats not it. Maybe its because I wanted to comiserate with all you chutznikim, and go for one more day. No, thats not it either. The real answer is that when the WHOLE COUNTRY plans on going shopping for chametz products motzaei chag, you want to stay as far away as possible. I mean, Israelis are unpleasant enough at Supersol even when they're NOT hungry. So I decided that I will hold off as long as possible. I figure I'll avoid the morning rush, and go out there this afternoon. I have to say though, that having one less day of forced matza makes all the difference. I'm so used to planning out that first chametz meal for hours and hours. You could go with the traditional pizza, or a bowl of your favorite cereal, or maybe just go out for some good ice cream. But honestly, I didn't feel that way here at all, which is why its 10:15 AM. and I haven't eaten chamtz yet, but whose counting?
As painful and exhausting as the pre game cleaning and cooking is, I'm begining to think that the post game is worse. I had a week off before Pesach. I cleaned and organized and bought and cooked leisurely. There was an excitement in the air. By now, I've had enough of all of that, but I can't go on eating matza and peanut butter forever. (I probably could last a while on that, but I don't think it would be very good for me). The real chametz has to come out sooner or later and that means everything else must be away. Who has energy for this? I don't think anyone does. Maybe thats why everyone forces themselves to turn over their kitchen immediately after Pesach, chik chok. If I didn't live in an apt. where the kitchen is 3 steps away from the lightest sleeper of all time, maybe I would have mustered up the energy to do it last night too. What did I do instead? Uploaded my pics! Its a good think I have a blog, or else what would I do to procrastinate right now? Back to the kitchen...
As painful and exhausting as the pre game cleaning and cooking is, I'm begining to think that the post game is worse. I had a week off before Pesach. I cleaned and organized and bought and cooked leisurely. There was an excitement in the air. By now, I've had enough of all of that, but I can't go on eating matza and peanut butter forever. (I probably could last a while on that, but I don't think it would be very good for me). The real chametz has to come out sooner or later and that means everything else must be away. Who has energy for this? I don't think anyone does. Maybe thats why everyone forces themselves to turn over their kitchen immediately after Pesach, chik chok. If I didn't live in an apt. where the kitchen is 3 steps away from the lightest sleeper of all time, maybe I would have mustered up the energy to do it last night too. What did I do instead? Uploaded my pics! Its a good think I have a blog, or else what would I do to procrastinate right now? Back to the kitchen...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Pesach highlights
Pesach highlights, in chronological order:
1. Having the best Rabbi ever- who says you don't need to cover anything! not the stovetop, counter, or sink!
1. Walking down Emek Refaim at 5:30 erev Pesach and being able to hear a pin drop... thats how quiet it was...
2. Being at the Bittons and experiencing a "sefardi" seder. Luckily they were nice to us and didn't sneak any kitniyot into the food. Yaakov and I were mesmerized and perhaps a bit obsessed with their charoset, which uses dates instead of apples.
3. Ayelet staying up for the whole seder and singing Mah Nishtanah- hows that for a non-religous gan?!
4. Keeping 1 day of yom tov (I just had to rub it in...) the only thing I missed on the second day was that Sefardi charoset.
5. Eating out at Burgers Bar.
6. In a makolet, seeing people who don't look the least bit observant make sure the ices were "kasher l'pesach".
7. Driving an hour on the highway and along the way seeing at least 50 cars pulled over just to take a random hike somewhere.
8. Spending Shabbat in Ramat Eshkol and succeeding in looking Chardei! (minus the Banana Republic belt).
9. Taking tiyulim with my family! (That includes husband, daughter and cousins!
10. Surviving Pesach without eating one egg kichel (no such thing here!) or matza pizza (couldn't find tomato sauce without kitniot)!!!!
1. Having the best Rabbi ever- who says you don't need to cover anything! not the stovetop, counter, or sink!
1. Walking down Emek Refaim at 5:30 erev Pesach and being able to hear a pin drop... thats how quiet it was...
2. Being at the Bittons and experiencing a "sefardi" seder. Luckily they were nice to us and didn't sneak any kitniyot into the food. Yaakov and I were mesmerized and perhaps a bit obsessed with their charoset, which uses dates instead of apples.
3. Ayelet staying up for the whole seder and singing Mah Nishtanah- hows that for a non-religous gan?!
4. Keeping 1 day of yom tov (I just had to rub it in...) the only thing I missed on the second day was that Sefardi charoset.
5. Eating out at Burgers Bar.
6. In a makolet, seeing people who don't look the least bit observant make sure the ices were "kasher l'pesach".
7. Driving an hour on the highway and along the way seeing at least 50 cars pulled over just to take a random hike somewhere.
8. Spending Shabbat in Ramat Eshkol and succeeding in looking Chardei! (minus the Banana Republic belt).
9. Taking tiyulim with my family! (That includes husband, daughter and cousins!
10. Surviving Pesach without eating one egg kichel (no such thing here!) or matza pizza (couldn't find tomato sauce without kitniot)!!!!
Monday, April 6, 2009
pre Pesach
Ahhh, Pesach. So much to say... where to begin? well, I was going to entitle this entry "Rena's revision of the 4 questions" but alas, I could only think of one. My burning question is the following: (to be read to the tune of Mah Nishtanah) "On all other days of the year, Israel is the home of Kosher food, but on Pesach, a Fridman like me can't find anything Kosher." Here is my answer: Avadim Hayinu: to remind us that we were HUNGRY HUNGRY slaves in Egypt. That doesn't explain why the Sephardim don't have to be hungry, but that's the best I came up with.
I've been warned by many many people that there is nothing for Fridmanim (see previous post) to eat on Pesach, everything has kitniyot. I was a bit skeptical and took it to be an exaggeration, how could there really be nothing for us Ashkenazim? Wasn't it enough that Herzl was one of us? But I didn't lose sleep over it, the issue was out of my hands. Deep down though I was a little nervous. That may have been why I procrastinated and refused to go Pesach shopping until this morning. Well, I went. I saw. And seeing is believing. There really is very very little to buy. But what makes the experience all the more frustrating is that its not like at the American grocery stores they have that one token aisle for Pesach stuff, and you don't even bother going down the other aisles. Here, they have that one Pesach aisle also, but all it has is matza and matza meal. You then have to comb through the entire store, pick up every single product that you are interested in buying, squint your eyes very intently, till you find a Kosher for Pesach marking. But these markings are not so simple to read-- which all makes the trip to the grocery store take double the amount of time it normally does. I have found 4 different types of Pesach related markings thus far. The first is your standard Kosher for Pesach. (When you see that one, you breathe a sigh of relief and shout "Yipee!") The second is Kosher for Pesach for eaters of kitniyot. The third is Kosher for Pesach for eaters of Liftit (canola), the fourth is roshei tevot (abbreviation) כ"לפ which also means Kosher for Pesach, but it takes an extra second, or a day in my case, to figure that out. I found it interesting how most items with kitniyot don't just say "with kitniyot", but it actually says "for eaters of kitniyot". The latter is a much more exclusive language. As if us Fridmanim aren't hurting enough, the hashagacha people have to be down-right mean about it! Anyway, I did the best I could, and we'll see how hungry we are come Wednesday!
I've been warned by many many people that there is nothing for Fridmanim (see previous post) to eat on Pesach, everything has kitniyot. I was a bit skeptical and took it to be an exaggeration, how could there really be nothing for us Ashkenazim? Wasn't it enough that Herzl was one of us? But I didn't lose sleep over it, the issue was out of my hands. Deep down though I was a little nervous. That may have been why I procrastinated and refused to go Pesach shopping until this morning. Well, I went. I saw. And seeing is believing. There really is very very little to buy. But what makes the experience all the more frustrating is that its not like at the American grocery stores they have that one token aisle for Pesach stuff, and you don't even bother going down the other aisles. Here, they have that one Pesach aisle also, but all it has is matza and matza meal. You then have to comb through the entire store, pick up every single product that you are interested in buying, squint your eyes very intently, till you find a Kosher for Pesach marking. But these markings are not so simple to read-- which all makes the trip to the grocery store take double the amount of time it normally does. I have found 4 different types of Pesach related markings thus far. The first is your standard Kosher for Pesach. (When you see that one, you breathe a sigh of relief and shout "Yipee!") The second is Kosher for Pesach for eaters of kitniyot. The third is Kosher for Pesach for eaters of Liftit (canola), the fourth is roshei tevot (abbreviation) כ"לפ which also means Kosher for Pesach, but it takes an extra second, or a day in my case, to figure that out. I found it interesting how most items with kitniyot don't just say "with kitniyot", but it actually says "for eaters of kitniyot". The latter is a much more exclusive language. As if us Fridmanim aren't hurting enough, the hashagacha people have to be down-right mean about it! Anyway, I did the best I could, and we'll see how hungry we are come Wednesday!
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