Jewish Life, Passover on My Mind

On Shabbat my friends and I grumbled about the upcoming Passover Holiday and all the necessary preparations.

So right after Havdala, I peeked into my fridge and took a couple of pictures. Whatever I've stashed must be eaten or thrown out. I think I have some good stuff in there. It's time to feast. And then I can start stocking up on meat, poultry and fish, since in Israel by Purim you can get lots of Kosher for Passover foods.

What are your tricks?

Eeks, Pesach is Just a Couple of Weeks Away!

I always freak out this time of the year. My house is too full of junk to easily clean. Yes, I know that the best thing is to throw things out, which I must do. It would also help to use up all the food we have in the closets and freezer/fridge. That used to be the easy part, but now we're just two old fogeys rattling around the house, so food just doesn't get finished all that easily.

The freezer looks deceptively almost empty, but there's a lot of food frozen and waiting to be consumed.

The pantry also has too much leftover in quantities that can't be finished before Pesach. OK, some things may be "sold" or donated to food charities, which I'll probably do.

I am thankful to be back to teaching, since in Israel schools close more than a week before the Passover Seder, which gives me plenty of time. And, no, I will not spend every single day cleaning. But I will make goals and doable plans to clear things out.

Sidney Spiegelman, Z"L
1920-2016

Gd willing this year there won't be any unexpected death or other tragedy. Last year my father died just three days before the start of Passover. So I spent the days before Passover sitting shiva. This year we will commemorate his death and life by having a family seder at my daughter's, Gd willing. And we just celebrated a granddaughter's Bat Mitzvah and are looking forward to a wedding soon. So, thank Gd after a difficult year, which included the unexpected death of my brother, we should Gd willing enjoy a much better year.

I pray for good health for family and friends. And as panicky as I always get before Passover, Gd willing this year I will look forward to a cleaner, more orderly and spacious home, once I throw out what I don't really need or use. And when the school year is over, Gd willing I'll get started on the new kitchen.

Eeks, Just Over a Month Left to Get the Freezer Chametz-Free

Here's my freezer. I have to finish all that chametz in just over a month. It seems like an impossible task. On the bottom there are bags of challah I made just last week.

In a week it's already Adar, then two weeks later, it's Purim, and a month after that it's Pesach, Passover. I kept pretending to myself that there was a n "extra Adar" like in some years. This year isn't one of those. 

Some people keep gorgeous immaculate homes. I'm not one of those. Even "cleaned for Pesach," my house doesn't get close to the pristine beauty those other houses radiate all year long.

But, thank Gd, we all know that dirt isn't chametz!!!  Still that's no excuse not to clean well at least once a year.

In just two weeks!

Yes, in two weeks, this freezer will have to be Kosher for Passover.

As you can see from the little sticker on the frozen chicken on the lower shelf, our grocer is already selling Kosher L'Pesach food. But that doesn't help me with the pasta in the closet. Why are fattening carbohydrates always the last to go?

This year I started the panic two months ago, before Rosh Chodesh Shvat. When the house was full, I could wait until Purim. OK, I also had a smaller freezer then, but still. Do I have to start the inventory check and count-down just after Chanukah? Please remind me next year! Thanks!

Maybe I'll find some good ideas in the latest Carnival of the Recipes? It has lots of interesting recipes, some which can be used or adjusted to the kosher kitchen. Take a gander.

I can't tell you what I've cooked for Shabbat...

... and yes, I have been cooking.

The reason is that we're having guests, jblogger guests. That's right! tnspr569 will, G-d willing, be here for Shabbat, with a friend. How he gave himself a name like that.... maybe I should ask him. We only know each other from jblogging. He saw my post about the stuffed freezer and volunteered to help empty it. So I did cook with a few things that have to go before Pesach. Let's see if he can guess which tasty dishes!

There are all sorts of special "activities" here this Shabbat. I hope his Hebrew is up to par for participating. It's outrageous that graduates of Jewish Education aren't totally fluent in Hebrew. After three years of high school Spanish, I could converse fairly fluently, and I'm not good at languages. Israeli students, who get much less English than the American kids' Hebrew studies, are able to converse more easily in English. I teach the lowest level in my high school, and I've tested the higher level in others.

I'm totally convinced that it is intentional. American Jewish parents, even the religious ones, do not want their children to be fluent and comfortable in Hebrew! The more fluent and comfortable one is, the more one feels at home in Israel. That is something that American Jewish parents don't want. They want their kids to feel like tourists, condescending tourists.

For the past few decades, more and more American Jewish high school graduates have been coming for a year in Israel, but they don't spend it with Israelis. They don't have to function in Hebrew. They live in English-speaking ghettos. The programs used to be in Har Nof, Jerusalem, and now many are in the Ramat Beit Shemesh area. Conversational Hebrew and Religious Textual Studies in Hebrew are not required elements in their curriculum.

Reports from the states say that even Orthodox Rabbinic students are studying from translated texts. It's predigested, second-hand knowledge.

I didn't plan on ranting about the state of American Jewry and their Hebrew knowledge, but just like chulent, you throw in the ingredients, and it comes out how it wants to come out.

I hope that I'm pleasantly surprised by tnspr569 .