Pre-Pesach Priorities

1. matza and wine purchased ✅
2. meat and chicken ordered ✅
3. fridge cleaned ✅
4. cabinets cleaned - in progress
5. cars cleaned - not my job
6. kitchen koshered - not my job
7. food cooked - waiting for #6
8. blog posted - in progress

I think I've got my priorities in order so I'm taking a break from Priority #4 to present you with Priority #8. Hope you can take a break from whatever you're doing and come tour the National Library of Israel with me...

Our two months in Afula included two side trips to Jerusalem. Or, in the spirit of "priorities in order", our two trips to Jerusalem included two months in Afula ;-). On one of those trips, we toured the recently opened (October 2023) National Library of Israel. The guided tour was technically excellent but with priorities lacking. I would much rather have learned more of what the People of the Book are famous for and less about Franz Kafka. (That seems to depend on the particular tour guide. So when you take your in-person tour, make sure you request a guide who shares your priorities!) That aside, it was a fascinating learning experience in everything from ancient manuscripts to present day architecture. 

The beauty of the building itself is something to behold. It houses 4.5 million books, most of them tucked away in a three-story basement that is inaccessible to humans.

The basement is managed by a team of robots who pick the requested book out of the bin and shoot it out to the waiting librarian. The occasional repairman who needs to enter does so with an oxygen tank because there is no air in the basement as a precaution against fire damage! From behind a glass window, we watched the robots at work:

Although we visited the library in early March, the main exhibit hall was already in Pesach mode, with a focus on stunning, ancient Hagaddos. I took many notes but, unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced them. Suffice it to say that these Hagaddos are very old and from many far corners of the world:

Perhaps most moving of all the exhibits was the one on the main floor of the massive multi-story reading room - a chair for each of the hostages still waiting to be freed. With the input of family members, on many of the chairs is a book that is either a favorite of the hostage or hints at something about him.

The National Library of Israel and the entire Nation of Israel continue to pray for their homecoming. May each be able to sit at his Seder, read his Haggadah and thank G-d for his personal redemption as we celebrate our national one. This is, right now, our National Priority.

Yes, two short side trips were enough for me to be able to Remember Jerusalem until the next time... Living in Afula is a blessing and a gift but remembering Jerusalem will always be Priority One. 

P.S. In the midst of composing this post, I received an email saying that today, April 1, is Library Giving Day in the U.S. I don't know that this has any practical application for the National Library of Israel but I took it as a wink from Above that my priorities are in order.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, prioritized Pesach. 

Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem! Amen!

(8. blog posted ✅)

Variation on a Theme

I've never been a big fan of Purim "themes". I think the theme of Purim should be, well, Purim. But I'm stepping off my soapbox this year and joining in the Purim fun by sharing some photos of what's been going here in preparation for the holiday...and then, my own Variation on a Theme (with appreciation to all the great classical composers who did the same). There's really nothing quite like Purim in Israel...

costumes galore

hamantashen in every store

tons of paper goods are sold

smiling faces - young...

...and old.

I could go on (I've got lots more pics!) but I don't think any of us has time for that with Purim being on Friday this year! So I will conclude with this Variation on the Theme of my last blog post.

Above, our Mishloach Manos for some of the wonderful families 

who went above and beyond in welcoming us Home to Afula. 

Package ingredients are highlighted in bold in this accompanying poem:

Many hours of our past two months in Afula

were spent traveling to and shopping at IKEA.

Baruch Hashem, they satisfied most of our apartment needs

and in the process, we learned a lot about the Swedes.

They like to eat herring and munch crisp bread

(but we’re substituting Osem crackers instead).

The wine is Israeli but bought in their shop.

We hope you’ll enjoy it ‘til the very last drop.

Swiss chocolate has no connection to the IKEA name

but at least the first letters of both countries are the same.

Wishing you a Purim Sameyach and a Shabbat Shalom.

And thank you so much for your warm “Welcome Home”! 

When our Purim is done and Shabbat begins here in Afula, I will Remember Jerusalem and smile as they enter Day Two of their rare three-day Purim celebration. And I will be thinking of my dear family and friends outside the Land who are just beginning their Day One. All part of the fun and mystery of the happiest holiday on the Jewish calendar. Themed or not or a variation on one, may the joy of Purim lead us all into the redemption of Pesach, just four short weeks away... ;-)

אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשנאיהם

Ee-Kay-Ah

With everything going on in this part of the world, this might seem a mundane, ordinary or just plain uninteresting topic but you've gotta believe me when I say that nothing here is mundane, ordinary or uninteresting. And even if it was, sometimes an escape from the intensity isn't a bad thing.

As mentioned in my previous post, we have been tasked (read: blessed) with the guardianship of a small piece of the Land and the apartment that sits upon it. Taking care of an apartment includes furnishing it and, for the past five weeks, we have been actively trying to do just that - which is where Ee-Kay-Ah comes in. You might be more familiar with it as...

There are several in Israel, one about an hour's drive from Afula. In the first three weeks of our stay, we visited there three times until we learned that although you can't order online directly from IKEA in Israel, there is a service which, for a nominal fee, will order for you. That turned out to be a HUGE help with the ten dining room chairs that we would have had to pull off the warehouse shelves and arrange for shipping to our apartment - a multi-step process.

But ordering intricacies aside, IKEA in Israel is unlike anywhere else. The bookcases on display are stocked with volumes of Torah and other sacred texts.

The dining room tables for sale are set with challah and kiddush wine for Shabbat.

And last but not least, where else in the world can a kashrut-observant Jew eat in the IKEA cafeteria? I didn't opt for their famous Swedish meatballs but the salmon, chips, string beans, etc. were tasty, plentiful and reasonably priced.

All walks of Jewish patrons (and some non-Jewish ones as well) were enjoying their choices from the varied menu. Some didn't seem to be IKEA shoppers at all - just there for the food!

The "doggie bags" we took home (or arranged for delivery) included everything from towel bars to barstools; dressers to dining table...

You might think it a stretch to say that IKEA helped us Remember Jerusalem in a meaningful way but as we furnish our home in the Holy Land, we pray that Hashem will soon build and furnish His Home in the Holy City so that we may all live in its extended shadow - even here, way up north.

There will probably be at least one more visit to IKEA before we head back to the States. Yes, it's something of a trek but never mundane or ordinary. In fact, on our most recent drive in that direction, we even got to see the flowering almond trees that I didn't manage to catch on Tu b'Shevat.

Wishing you the opportunity to furnish your very own home in Israel

- and enjoy the meatballs!

"That's how you say 'hearty appetite' in Swedish." (And "b'tay'avon'" in Hebrew.)

Seder Night (and Day)

Don't panic! Pesach is still two months away - but there's another Seder going on in many homes and communities today. It's the Tu b'Shevat Seder and I participated in a communal one for women here in the Lower Galil (Galilee) city of Afula last night - complete with four questions, four cups of wine, a fourteen page "hagaddah" and some very holy ladies.

Yes, I'm Home for the holiday, thank G-d. Being in Israel during the month of Shevat has always been special for me in many ways as it is my birthday month as well as my husband's, and our anniversary month, too. But in between all those personal celebrations comes this one that is national - and spiritual. This holy day is referred to in the mishnah (the basic text of the Oral Law of our Torah) as one of the four "Rosh Hashanahs" of the year. Tu b'Shevat is a very "technical" day with many details regarding the halachic status of fruit grown in the holy soil of Eretz Yisrael. But in kabbalistic terms, it represents concepts such as spiritual renewal and connection to the Land - and I am "all in". 

The spirit of Tu b'Shevat includes my delight in the every-shade-of-green

that I see as I drive around locally and longer-distance and an appreciation for the blessed rains that poured down as Tu b'Shevat began last night. Today, shemesh paz zorachat - a golden sun is shining out from the behind clouds of whites and greys. 

One can usually rely on the almond trees in Israel to blossom 

on schedule though the ones I saw weren't quite as flowery as I had anticipated. But that's ok because the lemon tree in our yard totally makes up for it. Lemon tree in our yard? Did I just say that? I did. And it is. Our lemon tree in our yard.

Well, G-d's of course - but He recently entrusted us to be the caretakers of a small piece of His Land and the apartment that sits upon it. After two years in the works and decades in my dreams, we moved in one month ago for a two-month stay. I am overwhelmed by this gift, humbled by the responsibility and filled with gratitude for Hashem's guidance every step of the way. Enough on that (for now) lest I short-circuit my keyboard with yet another round of joyful tears.

Depending on how old you are and in what circles you've traveled, you may recall this refrain to a popular song. "Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat."

Our little lemon tree is very pretty, indeed. I don't know if I had ever seen a lemon flower until this week but now I know that it truly is a sweet sight to behold. 

At our private Tu b'Shevat lunch today, we will sample a selection of most of the Seven Species for which the Land of Israel is praised (bug-free figs are hard to come by!) and thank G-d "who has given us life and sustained us and brought us to this day" - in more ways than one. Then, when the tithes have been properly separated - and with no apologies to Peter, Paul or Mary - I will bite in (literally and spiritually) to the most delicious lemon I have ever eaten.

In conclusion, we will Remember Jerusalem in the after-blessing which states: "Hashem, have mercy on Israel, your Nation...rebuild Jerusalem, the city of holiness, speedily in our days. Bring us up into it and gladden us in its rebuilding and let us eat from her fruit and be satisfied with her goodness and bless You upon it in holiness and purity. For you, Hashem, are good and do good to all and we thank You for the Land and for her grain and her fruit and her fruit of the vine..." Amen.

Last Night's Seder Table

Wishing you everything Tu b'Shevat has to offer. From the edible to the intangible and beyond!

"Al" Hanissim - For The Miracles

Al Hanissim ("For the Miracles") is, of course, the special addition to our prayers on Chanukah and Purim. "Al" is the transliteration of a Hebrew word not to be confused with the English abbreviation "AI" which, depending on the font you use, looks exactly the same.

Unless you've been living under a rock (which apparently I had been for some time), you know that AI stands for Artificial Intelligence and that Chat GPT is "a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI". I can't explain it any better than that but some people I know quite well have been using this (miraculous?) little tool for some very interesting and worthwhile purposes. 

So I figured it's time to check it out with some artificially intelligent illustration and the addition of a few new paragraphs to my ancient Chanukah POem. (For the original, click here.) So let's see what it can do - with a bit of editing by yours truly...

In Israel today, miracles abound;
from the Sea to the River, they can be found.

With helping hands 

amid the madness,

hope and faith 

replace the sadness.

Chayalim (soldiers) 

home and hugged tight;
aglow all this week 

with bright candlelight.

Yet still we wait 

and count the days
until our hostages return,

for us to sing praise.

As I Remember Jerusalem on this Chanukah's last day, 

I wonder just what her menorahs would say

about miracles now, and those long ago
and more miracles waiting for G-d to bestow...

*****************************************************

Thank you, AI - you're impressive and "smart"

but you can't hold a (Chanukah) candle to words from the heart.

Your images generated just don't compare

to the art we produce with our humanly flair.

So I'll use my own thoughts to compose what I can,

the original way that these blog posts began.

I'll share my own photos, the best that I've got.

(But I'm glad to be out now from under that rock.)

May all your Chanukah dreams and wishes come true 

with revealed good and sweetness, too.