Tomorrow is my dad’s Yortzait according to the Hebrew date. Fittingly, the Parshah for the week is Acharei Mot – after the death. I have written a lot about this, and there’s nothing to add today. The pain and the emptiness stay with us, the good memories last much longer, thankfully. Looking back, I get to realize…
Author: Blogging Across the Nation
Some More Fun Jewish Food Reading
I found another fascinating continuation to a 100 Jewish Foods. Tablet is an interesting magazine for me – approximately half of the publications I can’t stand, and another half I like. Is that what defines good journalism – the ability to cater to different tastes? Don’t know and don’t really care. All I can say…
Tazria-Metzora
This is a hard Parshah for me as, actually, most of the Parashot in Leviticus – Vayikra. I am going to bring you another commentary from a source that is not that well-known (I think). I subscribe to a newsletter by a Rabbi Ben Zion Spitz, the former Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He brings an…
100 Most Jewish Foods
Since it’s Pesach and, generally, there’s not so much time to write anything apart from work (alas, I work all hol-haMoed), I’ve decided to bring you some fun reading about Jewish food. First, of course, is the newly published, more fund that truth Tablet’s guide to a 100 Jewish foods. I really like the eggplant stop, not…
Happy Birthday to a Special Person!
Today is the birthday of one woman whom I am blessed to call family, even though she is not a blood relation. I’ve met my (then future) sister-in-law almost 35 years ago, and since then through good times and bad, every day I realize more and more what an exceptional human being she is. She…
Parshat ha Shavuah Verses – Tzav – צַו
Originally posted on Noshing Across the Nation:
This an extremely hard to comment on parshah. צַו Means “command” ו אֵשׁ, תָּמִיד תּוּקַד עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ–לֹא תִכְבֶּה. 6 Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out. Listen to the Voice of your Lord! Don’t stroll to the right or to the left! This…
Random Stuff from My Heart
I was ready. SO ready for spring. I saw some buds coming out and hoped for the best. Hoped that this long winter was over. My hopes in vain, I am looking outside dreading the picture I see. Is it because I am such a warm weather person, or am I just missing you as…
Am I still entangled with Mother-Russia?
I wonder if it is coincidental that I have read this book over Shabbat just prior to the 2018 Russian presidential election. I got this book from my favorite book-junkie event of the year – the Jewish Book Council “Raid the Shelves“. Luckily, I work right next door, so I don’t schlep all of them at once,…
Vayikra
This Shabbat, Vayikra, I am again, bringing you some wisdom from the two sources you are no doubt already familiar with. First – from Dr. David Ackerman: “No grain offering that you offer to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for no leavenor honey may be turned into smoke as a gift to the Lord.” (Leviticus 2:11)…
Making my Dad’s Salad Missing Him Crazy
Originally posted on Noshing Across the Nation:
A couple of days ago I was passing by a Russian store and saw white radishes. I bought one for a salad, not knowing that it would bring me to tears. You see, my dad עליו השלום, loved it. He made it himself for the last 20 years at least.…
JOFATHON
I’ve spent this weekend attending a first-ever JOFAthon. What’s that, you ask? It is just a Shabbaton created by the JOFA. I have been interested in this organization that tries to merge orthodoxy and feminism, sometimes to my utmost liking, and sometimes taking the views much to the left of mine. However, the scholarship, the…
Ki Tisa & Purim
Today, for the Parshat Ki Tisa, I am bringing you an interesting D’var from Dr. David Ackerman: “He said, ‘Not a sound shouting strength nor a sound shouting weakness; a sound of distress do I hear!” (Exodus 32:18) Parashat Ki Tisa is an epic disaster. The Israelites, who should be on a spiritual high after the revelation…
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