Rabbi Bassous related the following story on Shabbat:
About thirty years ago when the Soviet Union first opened its doors, an elderly woman arrived in Israel who was visited by many rabbis. She was not religious, but she was the granddaughter of someone famous: the Chofetz Chaim. They wanted to hear about her conversations with and stories about her famous grandfather. There was one story in particular that was related. The granddaughter, against her parents’ and grandfather’s wishes, had attended university. After much education, she came back to her grandfather and said to him, when are you going to give up your old-fashioned ways? The world is moving forward with science and technology; all sorts of exciting new discoveries are happening. The Chofetz Chaim replied, with all these great discoveries, they will build bombs. One day there will be a bomb to destroy the world. While they are building bombs, I am building people.
Rabbi Bassous then went on to relate this to the parsha, where the people build a tower toward the skies.
How pretty when the buds of my chrysanthemum start to show red. Last week, those buds were closed and green.
This sole red petunia graces the front of my front yard. My other petunias are mostly fuchsia.
This is what the men in my family (my husband and two sons) were doing while I photographed fall flowers – they were taking down our sukkah, the temporary dwelling that we eat in for one week each fall. At this point, all the decorations were already down. The panels are sort of red – a brown that is a cousin of red, perhaps.
This beautiful tune, El Nora Alila, is sung at Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park at nei’la time, the last prayer of Yom Kippur. My husband said the first tune on this video, the Turkish one, is the melody used at our synagogue, which makes sense since it was founded by immigrants from Salonika and Turkey.
Hat Tip: a friend who used to belong to Congregation Etz Ahaim and now lives in Israel; and another friend who was pleased to hear it sung at his father’s Reform temple in a suburb north of New York City.
Click on each thumbnail to find out more about the siman (symbol) of food that is eaten the first night of Rosh Hashana:
Simanim for Rosh Hashana
Some people use the head of a lamb (that we be like the head and not as the tail). I now have a post on dates. And I may put out celery, for a raise in salary. Past post of simanim details here.
Here is a post from G6 of new fruit for the 2nd night of Rosh Hashana. I bought a sabra, a papaya, some fresh figs and a starfruit. The idea is you need a fruit that you haven’t eaten all year, so you can make the blessing called “shehiyanu.”
More stories from the prophets: Archaelogical Dig at Tel Dan in northern Israel, Where Jeroboam built a cult as an alternative to the Temple in Jerusalem
My husband told the following story:
Long ago there was a king. He was a new king. He was trying to get the people who lived far to the north to adhere to his sovereignty. So he asked his elder advisers: What shall I do? They told him to speak gently to the people, and the people will serve him. He did not take the advice of these elders. He then went to the younger advisers. The young advisers told him to say: “My father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions.” They wanted him to show the people who is boss and increase their burden. And that he did. And he lost the kingdom.
How was this related to last week’s parsha? We learned about the law of jealousy in the ten commandments, and from there, my husband told the story of jealous Jezebel, and then there were more stories from the Prophets…
Batya presents Chodesh Tammuz Tov, KCC So Humbly Served. The Kosher Cooking Carnival is a blog carnival concentrating on all aspects of kosher food, Jewish Law, cooking and eating. Check it out!
Ilana-Davita interviewed Mrs. S. this past week, one of my favorite bloggers. Certainly my favorite Heblish blogger (read her blog to find out more about funny Heblish).
A Mother in Israel wrote about a disturbing topic: Orthodox Girls and Eating Disorders. Unfortunate but very important to discuss. A friend (who struggles with weight and food issues) said any culture that emphasizes food ends up with food issues. I would suggest that the inability to express one’s feelings because there is no safe place to do so adds to the problem.
Bronwyn writes Nuts! – “people who consume the most nuts are the least likely to be overweight” – and more on nuts. I asked my middle son if he would eat nuts, and he replied: “I like do-nuts.” Wise guy.
This year I said I would not take a lot of pictures. I would not, I would not, I would not. I came home and emptied a mere 126 images unto my external hard drive. This post features schools from New Jersey that marched in the Salute to Israel Parade down 5th Avenue in New York City in May 2010.
Next year my daughter will be old enough to march with her school. Her school, RPRY in Edison, always features dancers as a highlight.
It’s a lot of fun when you know the person holding the banner, and he enthusiastically smiles at you. This is my eldest son’s school, Torah Academy of Bergen County.
We recognized several of the students of Kushner Hebrew Academy and Kushner Yeshiva High School of Livingston, New Jersey.
Yavneh Academy had a sunny theme.
I liked the bright kites. Related to the sunny theme.
Here is Solomon Schecter Day School of Raritan Valley.
JEC of Elizabeth, New Jersey had a lively, colorful banner.
I captured the banner for the Frisch School of Paramus, New Jersey just as we were leaving the parade. We didn’t stay for the whole time – as it is, we didn’t get back home until 5 pm.
No idea what organization held this banner that reads “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”
