This Shabbat we will mark the start (Rosh Chodesh) of the new month of Elul, This time is supposed to bring us all to a calm and self-searching mood. This is not easy at all when each one of us is busy with life, minor and major problems, thinking about holiday meal planning and the like….
Tag: Israel
First Week in Israel
Technically, this is my second week. I arrived, exhausted after a long layover in Europe and a few hours that took me to get to Tzfat from Ben Gurion, Thursday. Having been met by my friend, a jewelry designer, whom I didn’t see since 1994, I was clearly ready to crash, but happy to see…
חֻקַּת – Laws
Reading this Parshah, everyone always speaks about the red heifer – פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה I want to talk about the people leading the nation, and their tragedies. This is a Parshah, where both Miriam and Aaron die and Moses makes that tragic mistake that costs him his entrance to Eretz Yisrael. א וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּל-הָעֵדָה מִדְבַּר-צִן, בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן, וַיֵּשֶׁב…
The Wide World of Jewish Spices
I love Israeli cooking! I love the shuk, where spices are piled in tall towers. Therefore, I simply could not pass the opportunity to share this great article on Israeli spices. I have to say that Iuse most of them, but evidently, need to make a close connection with Ethiopian and Yemenite spice mixtures. …
Poetry and Baking – a Perfect Blend
December 26, in memory of my late husband, who loved poetry and was the first to introduce me, an ordinary Soviet school girl to the names of Severyanin, Mandelshtam, Balmont, Galich, and many others, I hosted a poetry evening at my house. We were fortunate to have a reading evening with Yehoshua November, who represents quite an…
Parshat ha Shavuah Verses – Ki Tavo /כִּי-תָבוֹא
We are commanded to bring the first fruits of our labor “unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there” and speak to our Gd: י וְעַתָּה, הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת-רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-נָתַתָּה לִּי, יְהוָה; וְהִנַּחְתּוֹ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ. 10 And now, behold, I have…
Parshat ha Shavuah Verses Shoftim / שֹׁפְטִים
People think about different things when their minds drift away from the task at hand. Being super busy now at work, I somehow still always manage to find my way to Israel in my mind. And today I am missing it so much it hurts. Maybe one of the reasons is that here, in the…
A Random Step
This Sunday I am embarking on a new adventure. I am starting a week-long class at Mechon Hadar. Again, not without trepidation. This is not exactly the place where the level of observance and Yirat Shamaim is according to my view of the world. And yet, I’ve decided to try it. For a very practical reason – there…
Parshat ha Shavuah Verses – Bo
“Go!”, He said. “Don’t ask for reasons, do as I say” Your people will leave this cursed place And you will be the leader. Now and forever. כב וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-יָדוֹ, עַל-הַשָּׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי חֹשֶׁךְ-אֲפֵלָה בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים. 22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the…
Hummus in Our Lives
By now, it is hard to imagine our lives without hummus. This staple of the Middle Eastern cuisine has a permanent place on any Shabbat table in North America. Certainly, in Israel you can find it everywhere, one place serving it better than the next. I was a huge fan of hummus with ground meat…
Noshing Across the Nation 