Have a Wonderful Healthy New Year שנה טובה

 

Here's this year's FRUIT HEAD, my special Rosh Hashanah custom, since my days as a vegetarian. 

Shanah Tovah 5784

שנה טובה תשפ"ד

Yom Kippur Outdoor Synagogue-- I Finally Prayed "With" a Minyan

 I know. You are thinking that this is some strange playground draped in sheets. Yes, you can look at it that way, but it's our local outdoor synagogue. 

Add a small portable "ark," a bunch of chairs, string up lights for the night prayers, and you have yourself an outdoor synagogue. Quite a few of my neighbors had prayed together here for over a year, even last winter, but I got no closer than my front door once or twice. It's across the street and down the block. Depending on who's the chazan, I can hear or not hear the prayers.

A couple of months ago, it had been decided to close it down and have everyone return to their former synagogues, in buildings. The powers that be had decided that it was finally safe enough, at least for those vaccinated.

But then the numbers of COVID positive began to climb, and it was clear that at least for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the outdoor synagogue had to reopen. This time our neighborhood synagogue took charge declaring the synagogue building "green" and the outdoor synagogue "purple." This way children could attend with their parents outdoors, and there would be fewer people indoors. On Rosh Hashanah I attempted to hear the outdoor prayers from my front door. I was partially successful, but that was good enough. Shofar blowing both days was perfect.

On Yom Kippur I started out by my door, and my next-door neighbors, who have a better perch invited me to their lawn. That's where I prayed most of Yom Kippur. There were just two of us on a large lawn, very private and safe. It was wonderful.

I wonder when/if I'll ever really get back to praying from my seat- the best seat in the Ezrat Nashim, Women's Gallery. There were things bothering me, even making me leave in the middle and pray at home, even before corona. 

May 5782 be a wonderful, healthy, safe and joyful year for all, Gd willing.

The New Jewish Year 5781 Has Begun, So Far Amazing

Happy 5781
Here's my Be a HEAD not a Tail

On one hand I must admit that Rosh Hashana was awfully depressing. I miss having guests and being hosted. I remember the days when our dining room extended into the living room with multiple tables, all the family plus guests. And then we'd be hosted by neighbors for other holiday meals.

This year my husband and I ate by ourselves, alone, just the two of us. Our children had their own holiday meals. We'll be eating leftovers for the next few days, and I'll try not to think of way back when...

It has been months and months since I've entered the local shul, which is literally in our backyard. I stopped staying for the entire prayer service about a year or more ago when I found the the cold drafts too uncomfortable. I even bought a hooded coat that makes me look like Darth Vardar in powder blue. I decided to give up on the "window wars," preferring not to fight with anyone. 

We had to sign up for the limited seats for this Rosh Hashana, so I took the plunge. Then a neighbor, who knows me well, said:

"You'll be miserable and leave immediately. The new regulations require open windows."

So I decided to try something new. There's an outdoor minyan almost directly across from my house. I set up a chair just outside the door, and that became my private "Ezrat Nashim," Women's Section. Since it's well in my property, I didn't even need to wear a mask. I could hear most everything, thank Gd.

Even better, I heard lots of shofar blowing. The early minyan a bit further way must have blown shofar outside, since I heard theirs. And of course I heard the park one. And I heard from our synagogue, the Yemenite minyan and when someone blew for neighbors across the street.

The neighborhood was live with the sounds of shofar blowing!

The multitude of prayer groups all over was so much better and more spiritual than sitting in a packed synagogue.

Actually, once the government allowed limited numbers to pray in the synagogue, my husband returned and sits in his regular spot. The synagogue is much emptier than it used to be. Many neighbors now pray in parks and backyards, so as long as the ones who prefer the shul building spread out, it's considered "safe."

During our family Pre-Rosh Hashanah zoom, I had been asked to give a blessing to all the clan. I found myself saying:

"Be thankful for what you have."

This may not have been what anyone expected; the usual blessing is for health. But I wonder if this whole corona COVID life change/challenge/pandemic has been to shake us up. Maybe Gd wants us to look and what we have and be grateful/thankful. Suddenly we're so limited/restricted, and we must learn to accept and welcome it. 

There's an expression:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Right now, unless you're a scientist working on a cure or vaccine for corona COVID, you're best off trying to make lemonade. I've also been crocheting. 

What sort of lemonade have you been making?

Rosh Hashanah Fruit Head 5780

This 5780 year's "may you be a head, not a tail" looks a bit like a 1960's hippy. In 5779 I celebrated my 70th birthday, and I guess I'm still partying. The "crown" is the security bracelet from the very first United States 4th of July Celebration in Jerusalem.

May 5780 be filled with joy, health and wonderful surprises for all.

Don't let Holiday preparations stress you out. Take the easy path, so you can enjoy yourself. Love to all, and Gd willing see you next year...

How are You Preparing for Rosh Hashannah?

We've done shopping, since we must eat festive meals on Rosh Hashannah. And we have freshly picked pomegranates, too.

And for the second time ever, I've attempted to cook lamb. I managed to cut the leg of lamb into two giant pieces, without harming myself. I seasoned and wrapped them in foil. Then I baked them in a hot oven until the entire house smelled "lamby" and fat escaped the wrapping.

My favorite pre-Rosh Hashanah activity is going to Tefilat Chana, Hannah's Prayer at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh.

I joined women, young and old, praying and enjoying the scenery. Of course, for me it was especially easy to get there, since I live in Shiloh.

The main speaker, and only guest speaker this year, was Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi, who was super inspiring as usual. The musical entertainment was the Yonina Duo, a very talented young couple, who encouraged everyone to sing along.

There were stands selling jewelry, clothes, food and Judaica. Also, besides the usual public toilets, there were enough of the "portable chemical" ones, so there weren't long lines at all.

Shiloh Hakeduma, a recognized archaeological site, is open all year, except for Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. There are always special activities on Chanukah and the Intermediate Days of Succot and Passover. I highly recommend visiting. There are attractions for all ages.

Succot Almost Over, Soon אחרי החגים

In the Jewish Calendar, there's a period late summer when for almost a month we celebrate holidays. And when we're not celebrating, we're preparing, or cleaning up from them. This holiday season includes lots of fasting and even a twenty-five 25 hour fast.

In Israel, all these religious holidays are national holidays, when schools, government offices, banks, some stores etc are closed. Considering how soon they can fall after the two month school summer vacation, you shouldn't be surprised that for a couple of months many things get postponed until אחרי החגים, acharai hachaggim, after the Holidays.

Tonight we begin the last of these Holidays, Simchat Torah, when we joyfully dance with the Torah and move back into our homes after a week of eating and sleeping in our sukkot.

One thing for sure is that many of us will have to work really hard trying to lose the weight we've gained over the holiday season. That's one אחרי החגים things I'm not looking forward to.

5779 Stepping Onto The Plate, May You Never Be Alone...

Cross-posted on Shiloh Musings.

For those of you waiting for my annual Fruit Head to greet the New Jewish Year, here he/she is! A few decades ago, during my quarter century, yes, 25 years, as a vegetarian, I adapted our Rosh Hashana table to the reality that nobody in the family wanted to eat a fish head, or even look at one. So, since then I've decorated a fruit, usually an apple, in honor of the New Jewish Year.

I bless you with a year of comfortable companionship. May you never be alone.

The 5779 Fruit Head is joined by a רימון rimon, pomegranate, one of the fruits which has much spiritual significance in Judaism, read 9 Jewish Things About Pomegranates.

One of the principles of Judaism is that Gd is all over, not just in the synagogue, not just when you're praying or remembering Him. Judaism is a "full-time" religion, and we don't need an intermediary to pray to Gd. Gd also sees us all the time, what we do and what we think. We can't hide from Gd.

At the same time, Judaism is divided between the קודש וחול Kodesh v'Chol, the Holy/Gd and Ordinary People/things/everyday. That's why in Judaism it's not considered enough to just pray to Gd, even saying all the words ourselves, it's preferable to pray with a proper minyan, ten men prayer group, with a leader.

Judaism isn't a solitary religion; it's a community. We need other people, other Jews. We need family, even when the family isn't all biologically and legally related. We need the support of other people, and we must help and support in turn. Yes, there is a time when we give and when we receive. That concept is repeated in the book of קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes.

Last week when I led our pre-High Holiday book club discussion on  קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, I asked if anyone knew why the writer, the son of King David, generally believed to be King Solomon, gave himself the name קהלת Kohelet. We couldn't think of a reason.

Maybe we're supposed to see ourselves as part of a long, complex Jewish History of Jewish People. There are repetitive cycles and lessons to be learned, and that is what King Solomon who is described in the Tanach/Bible as very wise is trying to tell us in קהלת Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. We are a very unique community קהל Kahal from the same linguistic root as קהלת Kohelet.

To survive we need both ordinary people and Gd. Even when things look bad, they are just part of the normal cycle, and we mustn't allow ourselves to wallow in depression. Reach out to others, humans and Gd. Don't be alone.

שנה טובה ומתוקה

גמר חתימה טובה

Welcoming 5778, Heading to a Healthy Year, Gd Willing

Yes, this is the "face of 5778," refreshing and cheerful, Gd willing.

Ever since my vegetarian years, twenty-five 25 would you believe, I've been making a "fruit head" rather than displaying a whole fish, head and all, on the Rosh Hashanah table. Each head looks a bit different, just like each year differs from the preceding.

May the Jewish Year 5778 be one of blessings, health and joy for all of us.

May we learn to see the good in all that happens and cheer each other up, when needed.

And I ask your forgiveness if I've hurt or harmed you in any way.

שנה טובה, בריאה ומתוקה

Shanah Tovah, Bri'ah Umetukah,

May You Have a Good, Healthy and Sweet Year

Looking Forward to 5778

A version of this was also posted on Israel Blogger as New Jewish Year, 5778, Reflections.

In just a couple of days the Jewish People will be celebrating a new Jewish Year, 5778. It occurs just as the summer is coming to an end. Every year at this time, we hear how the Kineret aka Sea of Galilee is lower than ever before in history.

Kineret aka Sea of Galilee at Sunset, mid-winter

All but the trees and well-watered plants have dried out. We live with fear of wildfires, whether lit by carelessness or Arab terrorists. It's definitely a time of the year when drought and starvation seem to be our future, Gd forbid. But davka now, when prices of local agriculture is highest, summer fruit and vegetables are hard to find and most expensive, we make great feasts to celebrate a new year.

It reminds me of the fact that we start our new day at night. That is how Gd commands us.

The Jewish Calendar and Jewish Day require a faith in Gd that darkness will become light, and rains will fall. And also to survive uncontrollable personal difficulties and troubles, we all must learn how to see the good, thank Gd and trust that we can and will survive.

With all the imperfections of the State of Israel, when I take a good look and compare today with the past, I see amazing improvements. Actually, it's good not to be satisfied with today, because that makes us strive to make it all even better. But we must never give up.

May Gd bless us all, individually and as a People in the Jewish Year 5778.

Those "24 Hour" Candles, Warning

In pretty much all traditional and fully Torah observant Jewish homes, you're bound to find "24 Hour" Candles, which are needed on certain holidays and when observing Yartzeits, anniversaries of deaths. When I was growing up these 24 hour candles were in glasses, which were always washed out well after the candle burnt out. And those became our drinking glasses. Nowadays, at least in Israel, the 24 hour candles are in metal cups.

For a number of years already, many people I know have been noticing that instead of the 25 hours or more they used to stay lit and be needed, nowadays, they don't last even twenty-four 24 hours.

To be honest, twenty-four 24 hours are not enough for some purposes. They really need to stay lit for twenty-five 25 hours. That's because if you have it lit on Rosh Hashanah in order to light the second night, that's twenty-five 25 hours after being lit. If there's no light/fire, one can't light the Holy Day candles. In my neighborhood, we've all come to each other's house in a panic looking for a light/fire to light from. And then we have to very carefully go from house to house with the lit candle to be used to light another. Sometimes, because we were too young to think of having Yartzeit candles in our homes, and the logistics of getting everything ready we'd forget, but more often, we lit, but the candle didn't stay lit long enough.

The candle needs to be still going strong after twenty-five hours for Yom Kippur, too, since it's traditional to light the Havdalah candle from a burning flame, lit before the fast/holiday.

For years already, I've been using candles that say 48 or 72 hours because of this problem. Before the Yom Kippur fast began, just seconds before lighting the holiday candles, like for Shabbat, I lit two different  Yartzeit candles. One was one of those 24 hour ones, and the other a 48 (actually 50 according to the label) hour one. I'm sure you're not surprised that only one of them was still lit when we came home from shul. And in case you don't know, our shul is just behind the house, so we didn't need to travel or take a long walk.

A neighbor had asked to come for  Havdala, since her candle had gone out pretty early. She said that many others had complained to the company and never received replies. So after we ate, I decided to blog about the issue and the suggesting that people do what I do and get longer-lasting candles. To do this I took some photos of the candles. And what do you think I discovered?

Not only don't the candle manufacturers attempt to give you enough wax for the needed 25 hours, which was once the norm, they now protect themselves by writing on the can in Hebrew and English:

"Burns About 24 Hours"

Next time you're buying, check to see what it is. They sure don't make 'em like they used to...

Cooking Lamb, Easier and More Delicious Than Expected

As I had posted not long ago, I finally gave in to my husband's nudgings requests and bought some lamb to cook for Rosh Hashanah.

Considering the size of my oven and the size of the smallest piece of lamb I could pull out of the freezer in Rami Levy, you can see that I had a major logistics problem to solve if I was going to get some lamb on our Rosh Hashanah table.

Obviously, I had to find a way to carve it up before cooking it, and I don't have an electric saw!

I attacked cut/carved it with the limited tools in my kitchen and came up with a few pieces that  could somehow suit my very limited needs. I did try rinsing off the pieces, but I didn't do the usual soaking as my custom with poultry and beef. I presume that's why, even though I hadn't added any salt, the cooked lamb was salty.

I managed to cut it into two basic types of pieces, one type for baking, and the other for a stew*. I then wrapped up those to be baked in foil adding just the dry rosemary my husband had picked up (since all the recipes I found included it) and pieces of fresh garlic.

I then baked them on a high heat until the house smelled of lamb, rather delicious, and I could see the baking tray filling with fat that had dripped out of the lamb. I trusted that to be the sign that it had fully and safely baked. Remember that I don't use timers, and my oven doesn't have numbers.

The pieces looked like they'd feed a mob. The aroma of the baked lamb made us very hungry, but I put one large piece in the freezer and prepared the others so they could be heated up on the electric "platta" hotplate on Rosh Hashanah.

OK, now, you're waiting for a report no doubt. Of course, we have no photos of the cooked lamb. Most important was that it was finger-licking delicious. I ate from the boniest pieces making a point of saying that my father and brother, who both died just a few months ago, would have claimed those bone for themselves and enjoyed them. And something I must take into account next time I make lamb, and yes, I do plan a next time, is that there was much less lamb than expected from the weight and expense. I don't know how much was due to the freezing, which adds water, or was it the fat that had dripped out. Of course, it could also be the weight of the bones. So, next time, we'll try to buy from a different source and not frozen, even though it will cost more. Recommendations in Jerusalem are welcome, thanks.

So, if you, too, haven't cooked lamb, do not fear, it's not hard.

PS the mint sauce was fine, too.

*lamb stew to be blogged about at a later date Gd willing

Tzimmis or Tzimmes! Spelling Doesn't Count, Just Yummy

How can there be Rosh Hashanah sans Tzimmes? My recipe does evolve and change from year to year, but on Rosh Hashanah, there must be a sweet orangey vegetable dish aka Tzimmis!

This year I made mine with:

• a bit of onion
• carrots
• sweet potato
• pumpkin
• prunes
• brown sugar
• cinnamon sticks
• spoon or two of oil
• water

All that went into a pot, which was covered and cooked on a low heat until soft and ready. It's that easy. The carrots are on the bottom and the pumpkin on top, since carrots take longer to cook.

Gmar Chatima Tovah

Have a Very Sweet Year!

Applesauce Cake for Rosh Hashanah

Unlike most people, I don't go for classic Honey Cake on Rosh Hashanah, or anytime. To be honest I don't find it all that great and considering the price of honey, it's such a waste to bake with it. And as much as I love coffee, I don't see the point in adding it to cake batter of what is supposedly a "sweet cake." My Rosh Hashanah Applesauce Cake has evolved from a Honey Cake with applesauce instead of coffee to a very sweet cinnamon and applesauce treat.

This year I made two rather small cakes, since there wasn't much room in my freezer, and we're not having many guests for Rosh Hashanah. We used to invited people who live far from shul to our quick kiddush between Shacharit and Shofar Blowing, but now the shul has a community one. We still go home, so we can have our traditional coffee and cake and relax a bit. So, I hope that we'll manage on just one of the cakes and leave the other in the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar
• very generous shakes of cinnamon
• 3 cups of 70% whole wheat flour, or whatever flour you generally use
• 2 packets of baking powder, or whatever quantity of your baking powder needed for 3 cups of flour
• 5 average Israeli eggs or 3 large American eggs
• most of a can of unsweetened applesauce, don't scrape what doesn't pour easily, close to 2 cups
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 oil

Instructions:

• mix all dry ingredients well
• add all liquid ingredients
• if it's still too dry to mix, then add some more water
• pour into baking pan/pans
• bake until firm to the touch, medium heat, whatever is best in your oven

Yes, this is a very easy and delicious cake to bake. You can also add pieces of fresh apple or raisins or whatever... Please tell me how yours came out, thanks. 

Cooking Lamb? Looking for No Fail Healthy Recipes

For the past few years just before Rosh Hashanah, my husband has been hinting for me to cook some lamb. So, maybe I'll take the plunge. Here are some giant frozen "things" labeled as "lamb" in Rami Levy, the discount supermarket I sometimes/frequently shop in, since it's next to Yafiz where I work.

These "things" are a bit large for my freezer and my oven, but I trust that they shrink when thawed out. The recipes I've seen aren't very appetizing. So, I'm asking my loyal, trusted and creative readers for help. And of course it must be kosher, meaning no adding dairy or fish products.

You should know that I'm not interested in adding a jar of jam or bottle of juice (especially not concentrate) or a cup of oil or things like that. I'm not that sort of cook...

So, please comment with your suggestions, guidelines and recipes. If you're a reader of this blog, you know that I'm not very good at following recipes and measuring, unless it's a cake. So, let's see if this request helps, thanks.