Mishenichnas Adar/When Adar Begins

משנכנס אדר
מרבין בשמחה
When Adar* begins
everyone's joy increases.

(Talmud Bavli Ta'anit 29a)

(Apparently,
Asher didn't get
the memo.)

__________
*Adar is the month on the Jewish calendar containing Purim, a holiday that celebrates the events of the book of Esther and during which we wear costumes and do other joy-filled things.

How to Trayf up a Kitchen

Attention Jewish Mothers of Toddlers:

Would you like to keep a meticulously (or even sorta) kosher kitchen?

Too bad!

It seems that the desire to trayf up* a kitchen comes naturally to my curious toddler.

(It's a good thing he's

so cute while doing it.)

_______

*Render non-kosher by bringing in pork, mixing meat and dairy dishes, or something similarly horrific to a working Ima trying to keep some sense of kashrut in her kitchen.

מודה אני לפניך
מלך חי וקים
שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה
רבה אמונתך
"Modah Ani..."
I give thanks to You,
living and enduring King,
for having compassionately returned my soul to me.
Your faithfulness is so great.

~morning prayer

"Good morning, Asher. Did you say Modeh Ani?"

(My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok.)

~

This is the first prayer one says as one wakes up in the morning.
I used to take waking up for granted
and therefore never took this prayer seriously.

Then, I became an Ima.

(And I began to feel very thankful every morning when my boys woke up.)

For the past few nights, Rami has decided only to sleep when I'm holding him.
So, at 5:30 AM, I wake up on the couch, Rami in my arms, to this:

The other morning, I took 10 minutes, saying my "Modeh," and other variations on unspeakable gratitude,

for my beautiful boys,

for a beautiful life,

and for my soul, which is miraculously returned to me,

morning after morning,

to take it all in.

Which was nice.
Because then I had to
getupletthedogoutandfeedherwashmyfaceloadthediswasher
dressAshidohishairmakethecoffeegrabthedrycleaning
getsomebreakfastdosomelaundrynurserami
getAshi'scoatonpackRamiinhiscarseatkisseveryonegoodbyeand
get myself dressed.

Whew.

shidduch

shidduch (n. SHID-uhkh)

an arranged marriage; a "match"

shadchan (n. SHOHD-chuhn)

anyone who brings together, introduces, or otherwise maneuvers a couple into a meeting that results in a wedding.

God is considered the supreme shadchan...So every shadchan considers himself charged with a quasi-divine mission, and almost every Jew is an amateur but permanent shadchan.*

~

Since we started this whole child-rearing endeavor, we have known that someday, God willing, our children will get married. The only thing this is sure to bring us is holidays spent with in-laws, which has the potential to miserable or delightful. We decided to get a jump on making it as delightful as possible

(because, seriously, Passover seder is a L-O-N-G meal to spend with folks you really don't like.)

Meet Nevoh. We are great friends with her parents. We love them dearly. We would like nothing better than to eat brisket with them every Rosh HaShanah. She is first in line to pick whichever of the boys she wants.

Isn't she lovely?

Why do we expect the boys (and, for that matter, Nevoh) to listen to us and get married to the person of our choice?***

1. I (and Nevoh's Ima) gave them life.

(that's pretty much the best reason anyone could have, so I'll leave it at that.)

____
* Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish. (Old school version.)
*** Of course, we'll love them no matter who they marry. But really, is it so much to ask?

Fifth night

The fifth night of Chanukah is special
because it's the first night that there are more candles
on the menorah than empty spaces.

It's also the only night of Chanukah, that never, ever, ever can fall on Shabbat.
So the Chanukah candles have to work all by themselves against the darkness -
they don't get any help from the Shabbat candles.

It's traditional to have an extra-special celebration on the fifth night.
(This year, we have a one-month-old, and everyone has a cold. So, our "something special" was taking pictures.)

Chag Urim Sameach - Happy Chanukah

Stuff of legend.

Jewish legend teaches that, while still in the womb,

every child learns the entire Torah from beginning to end.

On the way out, an angel taps him on the upper lip, causing him to forget it all, but leaving a dent - a reminder of all he once learned.

Ima thinks Rami got lucky enough to have an extra reminder.

See the little curl of hair on his forehead? That's exactly where his tefillin will go.

(What a tiny miracle)

He has a name!

Introducing...