Tikkun Olam

I just felt like adding something light, since my previous post was heavy (I'm from the 60s). I myself have made kosher for Pesach matzah in our former shul's kosher-for-Pesach-matzah-baking-sessions, many years ago--as have my husband and kids--but I've never been in a commercial matzah factory. Quick, before it's too late: grab a piece of matzah (wash first),sit down, and crunch !

Pesach is half over and I haven't blogged since before the chag. It's that kind of a holiday: it takes over your life. It is your life, for eight days. And that is as it should be. I wanted to tell you how wonderful our sedarim (plural for 'seders') were, even without the kids being with us (sorry, kids!); it's really because our minhag (custom) is to sing, sing, and sing some more. We also have divrei Torah and discuss yetzi'at Mitzrarim of course, but we also sing it. And to me, song is prayer: that is what makes our seder different ( mah nishtanah ha-seder hazeh, mi-kol ha-sedarim ...?). It instills a mood of beauty - of elevation, of kedushah--somehow (thank you, Abba and Eema, z"l, for teaching me in your ways. I hope I've taught it to my children as well. . .) So down to the nitty gritty: our first seder officially "ended" (after Nirtzah) at 3:30 a.m., when our guests slowly and surreally began falling away from the table, floating (...

I just learned--yes, I stopped in the middle of Pesach cleaning and sneaked over to the computer when no one was looking, heheh--just don't tell anyone (...but too late for the Pesach Hevel Havalim, I'm afraid) from reading a JTA article that Senator Barack Obama from Illinois, in his campaign efforts to 'inform' the Israeli public (?) (read=garner the Jewish vote), has launched a blog in Hebrew , the first post being a translation of his Chicago speech of March 2nd, 2007, followed by the original in English . ), hosted by the website Tapuz . Now, that's an unusual thing to do, isn't it? As far as I know, none of the other candidates for President have blogs in the Hebrew language. Barrack Hussein Obama is apparently making a big PR attempt to promote the idea that he is very pro-Israel (again, read=very pro courting the Jewish vote). In having this blog, he seems to want to express to the Israeli public (read=and their American counterparts) his strong support...

It is very close to Shabbat; I will need to light candles in approximately 15 minutes, but I wanted to express to you, my reader(s), that I thank G-d every minute of every day (a figure of speech) for Shabbat Kodesh ; it is truly a taste of "The World to Come," or as we say in our zmirot, " mey'en olam habah ." I haven't yet fully 'recovered' from our trip to Israel & our son's wedding; it was quite a stressful, if happy, time. And after an awful week, my feeling sick and coughing and my starting a new work project, I am grateful for the respite of Shabbat. There is nothing like it: we are commanded (yup!) to lay our stressful work-week aside, and devote our attentions to spiritual matters, to 'resting from creation,' to emulating Ribono-shel-Olam (as much as we humans can), and remembering the Holy One and from whence we came...we study the Torah, read holy works and stories, express our love of Hashem in prayer and song. This Sha...