A Jewish Grandmother: Original, unedited daily musings, and host to the monthly Kosher Cooking Carnival. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged. Thank you.
Summer is almost over... it'll soon be Rosh Chodesh Elul, and then a month later, Rosh Hashanah. Tishrei is the only "new moon" which isn't celebrated in it's own right, because it's the beginning, "head" of the Jewish Year. There is no Rosh Chodesh Tishrei. Rosh Chodesh Elul will be the very last Rosh Chodesh in 5786. That's a good reason to join us at Tel Shiloh for Rosh Chodesh Prayers.
Tel Shiloh is an Ancient Jewish Holy Site. It was in Shiloh where the Tabernacle rested for close to four hundred 400 years as a center for prayers to Gd. The Biblical Chana prayed for a son in Shiloh, promising Gd that if He have her a son, she would give the son back to Gd to serve the Jewish People. Her son Shmuel was later born, and when he was old enough, she brought him to Shiloh to study with Eli the High Priest. Later Shmuel led the Jewish People and anointed our first two kings, Saul and David.
Since Rosh Chodesh is traditionally a "women's holiday," and Shiloh is known for women's prayer I began inviting women to pray there together on Rosh Chodesh decades ago.
Ancient Tel Shiloh is a well developed archeological site with a large variety of activities and exhibits for all ages. For more information +972 2-578-9111 and visit@telshilo.org.il. Ancient Shiloh can also be reached by public transportation.
I first posted this as a "rant" on my Facebook page and then realized that it needs wider exposure. I know that some people won't agree with me. I want to make it clear that we don't have a "safe room" certified shelter in our house, but our house was built relatively well, double outer walls and a ceiling prepared for a second floor. My husband and I are both "elderly" and don't run out of the house when there's a siren. We go to inner walls away from windows, but when sleeping in bed... we rarely do more than cover ourselves. Sorry that's the truth and the situation with many people I know, even if their homes are more fragile than ours.
Another important point is that the alerts, which come by cellphone, are 5-10 minutes before a missile may reach our area. Most of the time, even when followed by a siren 5-10 minutes later, the missile was destroyed by the Iron Dome. And many of the missiles would have landed miles and miles away.
"Last night's "alerts" were the last straw for me. I had gone to sleep early because of total physical and emotional exhaustion, but a couple of hours later I was awaken by a serial of alerts via my cellphone. Except for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, it's kept on -not just during the war- and within grabbing distance of my bed. It's also set with an alarm for those super rare nights I sleep late.
The alerts we get are supposed to give us time to get to a "safe" location, just in case the "sighted" missile may land nearby; if there actually is a missile close by the siren will shrill. A very high percentage of the warnings are NEVER followed by a siren. So last night I was woken for no reason at all. None of the sensed missiles ended up near Shiloh. We weren't actually in danger.
That's it for me. I plan on turning off my phone at night and turning on my simple battery alarm clock. When I wake in the morning, I'll turn on my phone."
One of the most unexpected but totally wonderful phenomena of the Hamas War has been the popularity among IDF soldiers, religious and non-religeous, for wearing Tzitzit, a very unique Jewish ritual garment.
“Tzitzit” – The “Mitzvah” (Divine Command) of attaching “Tzitzit” (a group of threads, attached in a special way, as defined by “Halachah L’Moshe MiSinai;” that is, according to Jewish Tradition, taught to Moshe by G-d on Mount Sinai during his forty days and nights atop the mountain, but not included explicitly in the Written Torah) to a garment with which one covers oneself, as it says in Parashat Shelach (BaMidbar 15:38), “And they should make Tzitzit…” (from the OU site)
In recent years, instead of discreetly tucking the strings in their slacks, more and more Torah observant Jewish men wear them showing proudly, no matter where they are.
The popularity of the tzitzit among even non-observant soldiers may probably because of the higher morale of the religious soldiers. I don't know for sure what they tell their fellow soldiers about how wearing tzitzit proudly make them feel, but tzitzit has become an accepted part of the IDF uniform for many. They must be tied a certain way, and it's not easy. Actually there are a number of ways to tie them depending on certain customs. Once the strings start breaking or get tangled or untied the tzitzit isn't kosher/acceptable.
It's obvious that our IDF soldiers aren't very sedentary, yes, to put it mildly. Conditions are "rough" at best, which prove rather "fatal" if you'll excuse the expression, for the carefully and ritually tied strings off the tzitzit. So you can imagine how frequently the soldiers must get new kosher tzitzit. Among the various war related chessed projects, providing freshly tied kosher tzitzit is important. There are now tzitzit tying groups for IDF soldiers all over the country. Men and women can tie them after being trained, of course, and then they're checked by an expert before being distributed.
One of my neighbors decided that she wanted to tie tzitziyot and asked her friends in other communities about it. They told her to contact Eli Poch, who runs project Tzitzit for Tzahal, was willing to travel to Shiloh with the required four cornered garment of especial IDF provided non-flamable fabric four-cornered shirts in a variety of sizes and strings. And he even found time before Rosh Hashannah for his first visit, which I couldn't attend. Thank Gd I made it to the second session, and he very patiently taught us, encouraged us and inspected the finished tzitziyot.
Gd willing he'll return after Simchat Torah for another session, since it will take a while until we can tie without someone instructing, checking and encouraging...
If you'd like to find a Tzitzit for Tzahal group near you, or start one, you can WhatsApp only +972 54-646-7624.
Here I am tying on the couch, far from the airconditioner...
Our tzitzit tying sessions are hosted by the Shiloh Women's Center.
One of the wonderful things about living in Shiloh is its swimming pool. The "icing on the cake" is that it's less than five minutes' walk from my house. I just cross the street and walk down a path... and there it is.
Since Shiloh is a religious community, we only have what's called "separate swimming," different hours for males and females. To make that even better is that we have adult/18+ hours, too. They are the first couple of hours in the morning and the last hour in the evening before it closes for the night.
The location was really well-planned, besides being a few minutes from my house. It's on the eastern side of the neighborhood, so the strong morning sun is cheerful and warms us up. It's just a summer pool. As you can see, it's in the open, not in a building. Every year we yearningly talk of getting it enclosed... maybe some day...
I exercise in the pool, hydrotherapy of my own sort. Basically, I dance in the water and do the warmup exercises I learned when younger, including from Alan Wayne.
In all honesty, I can't remember how long we've had our Shiloh Book Club, officially called "Book Bliss," but I was involved from day one. A new "Anglo" moved to Shiloh and felt the need for a book club to help make friends and talk BOOKS.
We've survived COVID lockdown and now a war... Here's more of the story...
Our Book Club started run like most others. We'd meet monthly, late in the evening, and we all had to read the same book. Then came... complaints...
There were two subjects for complaints. One was that the meetings was too late, and another was that it was too early, some members were hungry, because they hadn't had time to eat dinner.
So we came up with a great idea, Potluck Dinner! We started meeting a couple of hours earlier, and each brought something delicious to eat for all. Usually we'd end up with a healthy and balanced meal, though on occasion it may have been too heavy on the desserts, but who's complaining... As time went on we've ended up bringing the same sorts of food each month. My specialty is baked vegetables, including a special version for a neighbor who needs it cooked differently.
The second problem was the logistics of finding and sharing around the assigned book each month. In addition not all members manage to read a book a month.
We're all different ages, including some over a decade older than I am. Everyone is welcome, so we decided that it would be better to have a more flexible "book." We choose a genre or author, and we are very happy with that. For example, these children's books on the left were what I read for poetry.
Another change we made was that each month a member is in charge of choosing the genre and facilitating the meeting. It's working for us.
We began by meeting in different homes, but, since some members can't walk up and down stairs, that limited the amount of suitable homes. Luckily there's a Women's Center* in my neighborhood, which is very easily accessible. Now that our numbers have grown, it's better than our homes. Plus the hostess's husband doesn't have to hide out.
Friends in nearby communities who've heard about our book club joined us. In Shiloh we have a nice group of English speakers and were happy to welcome them.
If you'd like more information, please feel free to contact me via the comments.
*It's officially called: The Inner Circle Women's Center Shilo and funded by donations from here and abroad.
A big difference between the world I was raised in, America and Jewish Life is our responsibility when we find a lost item. Like many English speaking kids I'd recite:
Finders keepers -- losers weepers
Judaism commands us to make every effort to find the owner of a lost item and return it.
Yesterday, like many Wednesdays I take a bus from Jerusalem to the Shiloh Junction, because there are almost two hours between buses after I finish my classes in Matan. It's not all that difficult, because there are a number of buses that pass Shiloh and can let us off at the junction. I usually take advantage of one of those buses. That's what I did yesterday...
Sometimes I get a ride home within seconds, and sometimes I must wait a lot longer. Most of the cars who offer rides are continuing eastwards at the T-junction about a mile or more from the main junction. Yesterday there were many of us waiting for rides; I may have been the only one trying to get to Shiloh.
While I was waiting yesterday, I noticed two bags on the bus stop bench. As the crowd emptied --others got rides-- nobody picked up the bags or seemed to even notice them, just me. I kept waiting and signaling for a ride, but nobody stopped. Again I glanced at the bags and realized that I needed to do something to try to find the owner, so I took a quick picture.
Immediately after I took the picture a neighbor stopped to give me a ride. As I was closing the door, I mentioned that there were bags on the bench, one of which looked like a Tefillin bag. He reversed a meter or so, exited the car and examined/opened the bags to look for identification. He found it plus the owner's phone, which needed a code to use. He took them, and we told the soldiers at the security gate that he had the bags and would return with a sign and tape, so the owner would know who had them.
Yesterday afternoon some of my kids and I walked down the hill from my house to the Yekev Shiloh Winery at the entrance to our industrial zone/shopping area. I correctly guessed that they'd enjoy the visit before taking the bus back to Jerusalem.
We got there close to "closing time," so we didn't ask for a full tour and tasting. But they all agreed that they'd be back for the full "show." They found the public part of the Yekev very impressive and then bought a few bottles of wine, one of which was opened for us. We sat on their terrace enjoying the view and the wine.
The Chenin Blanc was perfect to drink on a spring afternoon. My wine maven kids described it as fruity, citrus taste. I just liked it. It was light and fine without food.
The Yekev also serves meat meals (strictly kosher of course) with wine. No doubt for meat I'd recommend, or prefer, a strong red wine.
If you want a tour, tasting and/or meal, it's best to make reservations:
Bli eyin haraa, don't tempt the "evil eye," we don't feel the war directly here... in a way...
Unfortunately, a local boy was killed defending the State of Israel a few months ago, and another was seriously wounded fairly recently. Many local kids of all ages and family members of those of us living in Shiloh have been fighting for our very survival... So I can't say that the war doesn't touch us. It can be said that so far, at least, we haven't been targeted.
So, besides being a gigantic elephant in the room, pressure that is hard to ignore... the war is almost distant. Of course many of my neighbors are doing tons of amazing volunteer work...
But it's summer, and our local swimming pool has opened for a longer than usual season
Getting my exercise in the pool a few times a week keeps me fit, sane and healthy. Or at least as healthy as I can be at my advanced age...
I exercise in the pool, pretty much the same fun and games -not classic swimming- as I loved to do well over sixty years ago.
Not only do we have "separate" swimming times, there are hours for "adults only." Thank Gd for this pool, which is only a few minutes' walk from my house.
Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma
תפילת נשים
ראש חודש אייר
בשילה הקדומה
Rosh Chodesh Iyyar 5783 is two days, Friday and Shabbat. We'll be gathering at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma on Friday 21/04/2023 at 8:30am. For more information shilohmuse@gmail.com
ראש חודש אייר תשפ"ג יומיים, שישי ושבת. אנחנו נפגש להתפלל ביחד ביום שישי 21\04\2023 ב8:30. לפרטים נוספים shilohmuse@gmail.com.
There's plenty to see and do at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh. It's a well developed archeological site at the location of Biblical Shiloh, where the Mishkan Tabernacle stood for almost 400 years. You can contact them directly at 02-578-9111, visit@telshilo.org.il .
For the past few years a "new holiday" has joined the Israeli Calendar, YOM HA'ALIYAH, a time to honor those who made aliyah-- immigrated to Israel. My husband and I made the move two months after our wedding in the summer of 1970. You can read about it here part 1 and part 2.
YOM ALIYAH is celebrated around the Torah Portion Lech Lecha in which Gd commands Avram-Abram (before his name is changed to Avraham-Abraham) to get himself going to the Land Gd will show him.
1- יהוה said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
Over the millennium many Jews all exiled over the world have felt these words from Gd personally and made their way whether by plane, boat, wagon or foot to the Holy Land, the Land of Israel, even before the modern State of Israel had been established. I was one of them.
I'll never forget how I broke the news of my plans to my parents, who had barely adjusted to my religious observance. You must understand that we were an ordinary American Jewish family, which lit Chanukah candles, had an abridged Passover Seder, were even members of a synagogue, Conservative-- which was the most popular and rapidly growing in the 1950s. But the kitchen wasn't kosher, and Shabbat and many Jewish Holidays weren't on our family calendar.
When I was thirteen 13 we moved to a different community, and the only synagogue actively recruiting new members was Orthodox, the Great Neck Synagogue. There I joined their Teen Club to make friends. It was a chapter of NCSY National Conference of Synagogue Youth, where I was introduced to "Torah True Judaism" which changed my life. Soon after, one of the local Jewish activists got me involved in Betar and Zionism, icing on the cake of my Jewish Life.
I didn't want any ideological, philosophical arguments with my parents about my plan to move to Israel, so I simply said:
"You couldn't stop me from keeping Shabbat and Kashrut. Living in Israel is just another mitzvah, and you can't stop me from doing that either."
It worked. They had no answer, though sometimes I wonder if they were happy to get me far from my younger siblings as not to corrupt them with my revolutionary life style. Within a few years, my mother enjoyed being the local expert in helping other parents with similarly "eccentric" children.
Obviously, Lech Lecha has always been my favorite Torah Portion of The Week. I live in a community, Shiloh, that is a fantastic stew of longtime Israelis and and much newer ones from all over the world. Our local region Mateh Binyamin, which is like an American county, is the same sort of mix. This year Mateh Binyamin made a big festive event to which we had been invited. I really enjoyed seeing so many people; some had been customers of mine when I worked in Yafiz. The highlight was an old-fashioned Israeli singalong. The choice of songs was just perfect.
It's the truth to say that I celebrate YOM HA'ALIYAH daily. I've never once considered that decision I made as a teenager to have been a mistake.
A couple of weeks ago, Jews all over the world participated in The Shabbat Project, and one of the big activities was community challah baking, the Challah Challenge. Here in Shiloh, the local Inner Circle Women's Center sponsored the challah challenge, organizing it in a synagogue hall. Women of all ages came to mix and knead their challah dough together.
The Inner Circle Women's Center in Shilo, is a program of The Ne'eman Foundation USA/Canada/Israel. The purpose of the center is to encourage and support women's activities to strengthen women and to give to the community as a whole- including new mommies, meals on wheels, cooking for the seniors, support groups etc...
While the challah rose, there was entertainment and inspiring words. We could have listened all night, but it was soon time to "punch down" the challah dough and then "take challah" for the blessing.
After the blessing, the challah was shaped and painted with egg. Finally we took the challah home for baking. Many of the challot were then given as Shabbat gifts to new families, that had recently moved to Shiloh.
It was a lovely inspiring evening, and everyone thanked Sara Katz of The Inner Circle Women's Center for organizing such a pleasant and successful event.
Friends and others who have learned Torah Tanach Bible with me over the years, or has it already been decades, know that I tend to notice what others don't. Rarely a teacher much more scholarly than myself will say that one of the sages chazal wrote something similar, but usually my "inspirations" are met with various forms of incredulity. I guess my mind works very differently from most. And I wasn't raised on the usual "sipurei Torah," Torah stories a mishmash of drash commentaries frequently far removed from the pshat actual text of the Torah Tanach Bible.
Recent Torah Portions of the Week, Parshat Shavua, have mentioned the special coat that Jacob gave his favorite son Josef, the first born of his favorite wife, Rachel. This coat caused terrible jealousy among Josef's ten older brothers, and Josef had no clue as how to lower the tension. Actually, neither did Jacob. That coat became a symbol of the hatred between the brothers, and it was brought all bloodied to Jacob after the older brothers sold Josef to Egyptian merchants.
Compare that robe, the one Jacob gave Josef and the one (actually many) Hannah gave Samuel. Jacob gave one that didn't "fit" causing problems, while Hannah gave Samuel, whom she had sent to "study" with Eli the High Priest in Shiloh, a new one each year to suit his "size."
I picture Hannah teaching her precious son each year when she visited him in Shiloh. Not only was each new robe the correct size for Samuel, but her instructions suited his age and development. That's how Samuel became the great leader, Samuel the Prophet, who was privileged to anoint the first two kings of the Jewish Nations, Saul and David.
Yes, this year's Shiloh pool season was a lifesaver for sure. It's not that the life guards reported to me that they had to jump into the water to actually rescue anyone, but for many of us the pool kept us feeling alive this hot summer.
Even though Shiloh has had a swimming pool for decades, because of the corona virus/covid there was no guarantee that it would open. The truth is that opening was delayed and only happened because of behind the scenes pressure by some dedicated swimmers.
One of the public venues the government had declared as dangerous contagion areas was swimming pools, both indoors and outdoors.
When the official corona "danger" status of outdoor pools was removed, the process of opening the Shiloh pool sped up to an Olympic sprint. In a fraction of the time it usually takes, our pool manager had the pool full and the landscape all gussied up for a shortened though much welcomed pool season.
Unfortunately, after a very short time the government reneged, and the pool had to close. But just over a week later, the government changed its mind, and again the pool was full of water and happy swimmers.
Many people hired the pool grounds for "corona-safe" events, even weddings, since there's space enough for maximum permitted attendees in different sections. When the official season was over the manager took advantage of the water-filled pool and offered post-season women's swim time each morning. We paid per swim, and enough women showed up to cover the extra expenses.
2020 has been a long, hot stressful summer, and not all communities in Israel opened their public swimming pools. Regulations were complicated and changing. Also, local officials didn't want to be responsible for a rise in corona/covid victims. As one of those with the highest attendance rates at the pool, morning hours only, I'm really happy that Shiloh's local government decided to take the plunge and get our pool open. It really saved me this summer.
Gd willing there will be a longer and less stressful season next year. Our dream is to find the financial backing to build around the pool and make it an all year swimming pool, with the Help of Gd.
Our thanks to the local council and all the pool staff and especially to Gd Almighty who kept us happy, splashing and healthy all summer.
Next week is Rosh Chodesh Av. Because of the heat, we'll be starting a bit earlier than usual, at 8:15am. We hope you can join us for our traditional Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers.
תפילת נשים ראש חודש אב
שילה הקדומה, תל שילה
יום ד' 22\07 8:15 בבוקר
כולן מוזמנות
WOMEN'S ROSH CHODESH AV PRAYERS
Ancient Tel Shiloh
Wed. 22\07 8:15am
All Invited
We sing Hallel out loud together and say the rest of the dovening quietly on our own.
Shiloh Hakeduma, Ancient Tel Shiloh is a beautiful archeological site which interests all ages. You can arrange special tours and more. For more information:
That's how I felt after 50 minutes activity in the local swimming pool. Our usual summer pool season is three months, but this year we had a late start. That's because all the government corona COVID-19 restrictions had our local council in a tizzy. They were too afraid of investing money to begin the process of opening the pool. What if the government wouldn't permit pool openings?
The biggest difference is that this year there isn't a kiddy pool, since even in regular, will we ever return to those days, years the kiddy pool is usually an infection problem.
Chlorine is a disinfectant, and the pool is full of it. That's why I'm not afraid to enter the pool. To be extra careful, I'm sticking to the early morning hours.
Our local Shiloh Swimming Pool only has "separate hours," meaning males and females swim at different times. The pool is also fenced in so people can't watch us.
As you can see, I wear a "modest" bathing suit, which doubles as a skin protector.
Actually, the pool opened yesterday, but women's hours were at night. I took a one hour fitness walk, instead of swimming. The water was perfect temperature this morning. I was surprised. It usually takes a few weeks to get so warm.
Thank Gd for the swimming pool. I don't need to go away for a "vacation." My "vacation" is right here in Shiloh.
Last week I blogged on Shiloh Musings asking for some "research help" for a Shabbat Torah Class I had committed to give at our Shiur Nashim, Women's Class.
This class I go to every Shabbat I'm home is the most veteran, longest lasting in Shiloh. It began over thirty-eight 38 years ago. We've had the same regulars now for quite awhile and can't manage to attract more women. Most who teach are men, even two generations of the same families, who are much more scholarly than we are. On occasion some of us even try our hand at it. A few months ago, we decided to give the neighbor who recruits speakers a monthly break. A few of us volunteered to give (or bring someone) the shiur, class so she won't have to make the calls. I had plenty of warning that my turn was coming up.
Due to the fact that I did not grow up in a religious home, going to a Jewish school and hearing all sorts of Torah stories from the youngest age, I generally read and learn with a fresh eye. That means I come up with some unique interpretations. Luckily I've found teachers in Matan and Shiloh who don't mind my rather unconventional ideas.
For this talk I had been inspired by the opening words of Parshat Shavua, Weekly Torah Portion Yitro, which was the week before. Since we're not restricted to the weekly parsha, that wasn't a problem.
I managed to get everyone talking and participating, which was quite an accomplishment. Sorry, but I'm not giving more details than you can get in the Shiloh Musings post. Maybe I should "market" myself?
