Weekend Hospitality

We have been to four weddings in the past two weeks.   Each wedding was special and unique.   The grooms seemed to be shocked and excited to see their brides dressed up to the nines and looking like angels.   Last night, the brides maternal grandparents were in attendance.  Both had been in Auschwitz-Birkena.   Thank God, they are in their 90's and doing great!  Seeing them at the wedding was particularly meaningful to me.  Here were two people who survived an attempt to wipe out their families, communities and religion.  What could be a more fitting statement than a family wedding to re-affirm their life.  To prove that Nazi Germany failed. The grandfather grew up in the same town as my paternal grandmother.  They spoke Yiddish and Russian.  Hebrew was not yet a conversational language.  The survivors were productive citizens of their countries.  In the 1920's and 30's, many Jews tried to be exemplars of the best that Europe and Germany had to offer.  They forsook their ow...

Pesach is just around the corner and preparations are already underway.  Our current guest list includes 7 gentlemen from a post-high school yeshiva program and two young ladies.  Our total count stands at 17 for all five meals. My wife and family are already working on cleaning the house.    Some of the dry goods purchases have been completed, and now we are looking at the protein purchase (butchers bill) and the fresh produce.  To get the process started off on the right foot, we are making menus.  In the general way of things, I expect these menus to change over the next 10 days.  Yet, I want to keep them online and get your input.  Do you think they are too light, too heavy, or just plain not enough for our hungry guests?  Let us know! There are five major meals that we need to prepare. Friday Night Dinner Early Shabbat Lunch (which must be eaten before 9:30am and that needs to include bread) Shabbat Lunch (around 1:30pm, that cannot include bread or matzoh) Seder Dinner First Day ...

This weekend is a bit unusual. One of our old college friends is visiting for Shabbat. He is not sleeping at our house, but he is eating dinner with us. Back in school (many years ago), I was one of the more religious amongst our friends, but as times change others have taken over that position. This has an impact particularly because this year is the 7th year of the shmitta cycle. The Torah specifies that every seventh year, the land of Israel should rest. The Jewish people should allow the land to lie fallow (uncultivated). The times of the Torah and Talmud, were based on local agriculture and animal husbandry. During this year, farmers were allowed to collect fruit that had grown on its own. They were also allowed to graze their flocks anywhere since all growth is explicitly ownerless during this seventh year. Given the relatively small populations and the fact that most people lived off the land anyway, the year presented a rest for farmers and a change of pace, but not ...