It’s that time of year when we light candles, play dreidel and eat… greasy food! Because of a greasy story two thousand years ago where a little jar of greasy oil lasted in the Temple for 8 days when it was only supposed to last for one. Since not much of the food in this post is greasy, I decided to call this the Greasy Story Edition, and not concentrate too much on greasy food (can one be yotzeh–fulfill one’s obligation–to eat food with oil by eating a salad with olive oil?). B’tayavon (bon appetit in Hebrew).
Another traditional food for Chanukah is sufganiyot, jelly doughnuts. No one posted a recipePhyllis posted a baked version, and I can tell you quickly my version: you make a sugary yeast dough, fry little balls of it in massive amounts of hot oil, dip the fried balls in yet more sugar, and inject with jelly. A delicious and fattening food.
Speaking of halacha, there are only supposed to be eight lights on a chanukiah, and then one extra for the shamash, the “helper” candle. Does anyone know why more show up in my photo? (Hint: the answer has nothing to do with halacha).
Sarah aka Proud Mommy's dreidel cookies
If you would like to participate in a future Kosher Cooking Carnival, please submit your post.
A view from Mitzpeh Netofa, Galil, Israel taken in June 2008
If you are a religious Jewish girl finishing high school and ready to spend a year in Israel, there is now a great option available to you. I got an email from my cousin who lives in Mitzpe Netofa about a new program called Midreshet Netofa.
Just so the rest of us can at least talk about our envy, here are some highlights of this program:
Learn by going on hikes and touring.
Explore creativity in art: light and form, perspective and composition, technique, elements of drawing, photography.
Meet with olive growers, wine makers and farmers as you learn about mitzvot associated with the land.
Learn about Kashrut in the classroom, in the kitchen, and out in the field.
Visit art museums, cultural centers, and performing art complexes.
Connect texts to Mitzvot between man and his fellow man.
Create your own family genealogy in the art studio.
Develop individual expression through dance, movement and music.
Study texts (such as Judges or the Book of Esther) with a focus on women.
Participate in events throughout the country for Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, Yom HaAtzma’ut, and Yom Yerushalayim.
Why do we read the story of Joseph at Hanukah time?
There are multiple answers to that questions. Feel free to give your own in the comments. Creativity is welcome.
I hope to post about the upcoming parsha on Thursday See the post on Joseph and Hellenization. On Wednesday, the Kosher Cooking Carnival will show up on this blog. You have until Tuesday to submit a food post. Thank you so much to the many folks who have already written about food! (I know food is a hard topic, one that none of us can relate to… ;-).
Back to the parsha, who sold Joseph? Was it the brothers or was it…?
And in the upcoming parsha, why does it say the “brothers of Joseph” instead of “sons of Jacob”?
Alternate spellings of Hanukkah: Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanuka, Hanuka, Hanukah … only one in Hebrew: חנוכה
Tamar marries Er, the son of Judah, son of Yaakov and Leah. Er dies. She marries the next brother Onan, as the widow of a brother with no children should marry the younger brother. He dies. She is then supposed to marry Shelah, the younger brother. Judah is reluctant to give her Shelah. She is told to act like a widow. Tamar dresses like a prostitute and seduces Judah. In the process, she asks for his staff, signet and cord and takes them. Judah does not know she is Tamar. Tamar gets pregnant. She is ordered to be burnt to death. She brings out the staff, signet and cord and says, whose are these. Judah responds: "She is more righteous than I, for I didn't give her to Shelah." And then Tamar gives birth to twins, Zerah and Perez. Zerah sticks his hand out first, gets a red string put on it. But Perez comes out first completely. Perez is the ancestor of King David.
So my question on my previous post on Tamar was: Why does Tamar merit to become the ancestress of King David?
Rashi says it was because of modesty. Judah did not recognize her because she covered herself up while in his house. Does this mean a physical modesty? Or maybe she just kept to herself? Or perhaps it’s the way she presented his staff, signet and cord: she could have accused him outright, but she set it up so he could either reveal himself, as he did, or he could deny it, which he chose not to do.
We can understand this story as a growth of Judah’s character; it is juxtaposed to the sale of his brother Joseph for a reason. Judah did not behave well in the sale of Joseph (one could add he did not behave well in withholding Shelah from Tamar as well). At the end of this story, however, he does the right thing by Tamar in admitting that it was his staff, signet and cord and thus he was the one who had impregnated her. You can read more about Judah as penitential man in Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s post.
Getting back to Tamar, I do find it strange that someone who dresses as a prostitute is considered righteous and a role model. But I suppose she knew she needed to carry the ancestor of David, and she knew it should be from Judah.
Wouldn’t ya know it? Yesterday was my first blog anniversary. And I didn’t notice until today.
One year ago I embarked on a journey of blog writing. My original purpose was to learn Word Press (succeeded, though there’s tons more to learn) and to write about and for people in Highland Park. I seem to have found a few readers in Highland Park, but many more around the globe. Thanks to everyone who has read any post of mine; thanks even more to those who leave a comment or two. I love the conversation.
One year ago my oldest son had his bar-mitzvah. He got called to the Torah in the synagogue and read both the Torah and the haftorah portions. It so happens that his Torah portion is Vayeshev, and last year I wrote a d’var Torah, a speech about the Torah, that I gave in the synagogue (at the meal after the services) to a wonderful crowd of people. I enjoyed writing a d’var Torah so much that I hope to continue doing so on my blog. It may not happen each week, but I’ll try. Oh, and in less than a year, we gotta do that bar-mitzvah thing again. It will be on Breishit, the first parsha of the Torah.
And now, for those of you who enjoy little quizzes, what’s the crimson thread?
And why did Tamar merit to become the ancestress of King David?
Can anyone tell me how many dreams there are in Parshat Vayeshev?
According to R. Abraham Twerski, Abe Lincoln once said: “I do not like that man very much. I should get to know him better.”
When my kids were in nursery school, they used to do this project that I loved. They would bring home a present, and inside the present was a paper book and a toy sword. Why? Keep reading.
In this week’s parsha of Vayishlach, Yaakov prepares to meet Esav, whom he has not seen in many years. Through messengers, Yaakov learns that Esav his brother still does not like him and is headed to see him with an army of 400 people. So what does Yaakov do to prepare? Rashi says he readied himself for three things: paying tribute (the present), prayer (the book, representing a siddur) or war (the sword or knife).
I’ve heard peaceniks and hawks both use this parsha to justify their approach to enemies. But I’m not sure Abe Lincoln’s quote really is valid for dealing with a whole nation of belligerents.
So who’s Timna? At the end of the parsha, it says: “And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. ” Why is this relevant? According to Sanhedrin 99b, her son Amalek became the archenemy of Judaism because she had been rejected by Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov as a convert. Rabbi Twerski suggests that even if they had needed to reject her, they could have done it in a nicer way.
So this parsha really does have a lot to say about war and enemies. You may have some ideas about how some of this could be relevant today. If I had to come up with some good idea, I would never be able to hit the ‘Publish’ button, so here’s the post as is.
Anyone know who Timna is? And why am I talking about presents (which could go with a prayer book and a bow and arrow)? I plan to write more on this for a post to appear on Wednesday.
Poor Leah. She cried, because she thought she would get stuck with Esav (Rashi says weak eyes meant they were weak from tears). Instead, she married Yaakov, but she knew that he really loved her sister, Rachel, best.
Rachel had signs from Yaakov to show that it was she and not someone else when they got married. However, Rachel taught the signs to Leah, so Leah would not be embarrassed.
Leah helped Rachel out by praying for a girl when she was pregnant with her 7th child. She knew that Yaakov would only have 12 sons, and Bilhah and Zilpah already had 2 each. She wanted Rachel to have at least two sons.
As Lion of Zion pointed out, there are also interpretations that say Leah and Rachel were not so nice to each other. But that’s a subject for another post. Maybe next year.
(One more thought: as I tend to prefer a commentary that is sympathetic to the matriarchs, especially to their sadness, as opposed to one that might highlight cattiness, I’m not sure I’m gonna like these other views).
Do you have a sister? I don’t. I’ve always been a bit jealous of sisters. Someone to whom one could connect in a close way.
Rachel and Leah were extra special sisters. Do you know how they helped each other out? Rashi has the answer, and I’ll post the answer on the blog, soon.
