Off for Passover!

Off for Passover!

Like a salmon swims upstream, I go to Toronto for Passover.

This year, Passover begins the evening of Monday April 14.

I will return by Wednesday April 23.

Have a matzarrific Passover week!

See you soon!

Abandoned Places: Churches

People come, settle, build and live their lives.

And sometimes…

(‘Holey Trinity’ Photo by rustyjaw)

People leave.

There are many reasons why…

(Church in Gary, Indiana. Photo by eholubow)

But one thing is common…

(St Dunstan-in-the-East. Photo by yorkshire stacked)

They can’t take their churches with them.

The congregation moves on…

(St Etienne. Photo by Jurg Roessen)

But the building – the structure…

That is left behind.

(Ivy Ruins, Belgium. Photo by John Neville Cohen)

They are living testaments to the idea….

(Abandoned church in autumn. Photo by *CainPascoe)

You can’t take it with you.

Tichel, Tichel, Tichel!

Tichel: (Yiddish טיכל tikhl), also called a mitpachat (Hebrew מִטפַּחַת miṭpaḥat), is a headscarf worn by many married Orthodox Jewish women in compliance with the code of modesty known as tzniut. Tichels can range from a very simple plain color cotton square with a simple tie in the back to very elaborate fabrics with very complex ties using multiple fabrics. As with any other form of clothing, the tichel is influenced by fashion.

The above Wikipedia definition is absolutely perfect… without actually being any good.

Tichels (or, more accurately, tichlach) cannot be described.

They must be seen.

They must be worn.

They must be experienced.

Luckily, I have my friend Tamar. [1]

Ever have one of those people you meet on Facebook whom you think is just incredibly amazing even though you’ve never met her in real life?

That’s Tamar.

Tamar lives in Jerusalem with her husband and baby boy. Tamar is a tichel maven.

She has kindly given me permission to use her photos to demonstrate how truly captivating a tichel can be.

Tamar ROCKS the tichel look!

Thanks, Tamar.

You are, as always, the best!

You are the coolest Italian Jew ever.

Except for me, of course. 😉

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[1] Tamar Eden Goldschmidt (née Courtney Ann Gagliano).

Honey Cake

We’re approaching the end of the fall block of Jewish holy days (there are 7 of them in September alone!).

Just before Sukkot, my dear friend JRC gave me (among other things) a honey cake.

In the spirit of the season, I will share a standard traditional honey cake recipe.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 pound honey (1 ⅓ cups)
1 ⅓ cups sugar
1 cup strong coffee
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp margarine
1 tsp. baking soda
4 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

(Some people put toasted shaved almonds on top)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ pan.
Beat eggs and honey together. Add sugar and mix again.
Mix coffee with baking powder, and then add with margarine to the egg mixture.
Add baking soda, flour, cinnamon, and beat together well.
Bake in greased 9″ x 13″ pan at 325 F for 55 minutes to an hour.

Enjoy!

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I originally got this Jewish holiday recipe from a Chabad Lubavitch calendar.

Gone for Shavuot

I will be gone from this afternoon, Tuesday May 14, until Monday May 20th, for (among other things) the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

In a Christian Bible, this is usually referred to as the Feast of Weeks. It occurs seven weeks after Passover.

Shavuot celebrates and commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Take care, my little geeks and nerdlings. I’ll be back before you know it!

The Hidden Synagogue

Found at Reddit, these are photos of a mind-bending piece of artwork. The contributor described it thusly:

“I got this from grandfather before he died. First used by hidden Jews during the inquisition, it is shaped like a teapot, but contains many secret Judaica pieces. The Hidden Synagogue.”

The original photos are at Imgur. I cannot adequately express in words how beautiful this is.

Playing in the World Game

Notes:

1. As reader bklyngalinla has pointed out in the comments below, this piece is a contemporary work of art, rather than being from the inquisition or holocaust periods. However, it is based on older pieces, and is in itself still a phenomenal piece of artwork. Here is a link to another blog that gives more information. I, also, am guilty of not doing any research on my own to verify the facts as stated by the original poster. This, however, has not seemed to dampen reader response to this post, which has been overwhelming – I thank everyone who has come by, simply because I chose to share something I found beautiful and faith-affirming.
2. The title “hidden synagogue” is not mine, but those of the original poster at Reddit. A number of readers have rightly pointed out that this device would have been used in a home and not a

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Gone for Passover!

Hi, my little geeks and nerdlings…

Passover begins tonight (Monday March 25, 2013) at sunset.

I will be in Toronto for a little over a week.

Have a happy, kosher and joyful Passover.

I’ll should be back Wednesday April 3.

See you then!

Purim is NOT the Jewish Halloween!

I’m afraid I have to vent about something.

This year, the Jewish festival of Purim (commemorating and celebrating the events of the biblical book of Esther) falls on Sunday February 24th. If all goes well, I will be in Israel then and for the first time (hopefully) will avoid the subject matter of this blog post.

(A Scroll of Esther)

Many non-Jews, in an attempt to wrap their well-meaning minds around Jewish concepts, ideas, holidays, customs, food, themes, etc., often try to compare or connect them to things with which they are familiar.

“OK, now… Hanukah. That’s like the Jewish Christmas, right?”

“Mezuzahs? Those are good luck amulet things on your doors, right?”

(Yeah, I kinda figured that one out on my own)

“Passover… is that the one where you sit around eating crackers for a week?”

G-d bless their little cotton socks. This is normal. This is to be expected.

This is also a bit tedious yet kinda tiresome, usually. In a way.  Well… it depends, really.

I’ll try to explain.

In the interests of multiculturalism and understanding (not to mention peace and love) between ethnic groups, I try to be sort of an ambassador for Judaism and the Jewish people, if you will, whenever I can. Most people who ask questions like this above genuinely mean well, generally. They just need a bit of Jewish education. I am happy to help put them in the picture… if for no other reason that to stop even one more person saying that Hanukah is the Jewish Xmas.

If the person is asking a sincere question and wants to know something about Jews and Judaism, believe me, it’s my pleasure. If they are genuinely interested… I am there with both feet.

But… every once in a while, we get the wise guys with their smarmy, smarty pants questions.

(“I’m just sayin’… [that I think you’re a moron]!”)

“Why do you spell it ‘G-d?’ Is it because you’re afraid you’re going to hell if you get Him mad? If it’s ’cause you’re not supposed to say His name… umm… you know that G-d isn’t His real name, right?” <insert self-satisfied smirk here>

“Kosher laws were like ancient biblical food health and safety regulations from before you guys had refrigerators, right? So… why do you still do it?” <unsaid: It’s because you’re an idiot who blindly and unquestioningly follows outdated customs, isn’t it?>

“Do you seriously think an ‘almighty deity’ cares if you turn on a light switch or scribble a note on Saturday?” <add raised eyebrow and/or condescending sneer>

These aren’t really questions. These are statements (e.g. “you’re stupid!”) masquerading as questions.

Because they’re not really questions I don’t really answer them. I just give the person the patient sigh and the pressed smile. It’s not all that difficult ignoring the non-questioner. They’re annoying but… that’s all. Just annoying.

I don’t engage with these types of people for the same reason I don’t play chess with pigeons. They knock over the pieces, crap on the board and then strut around like they’ve won the game.

(Psst… Saying it loudly doesn’t make you right)

And I won’t even get into the whole hostile evangelical questioner thing! [1] [2]

So… bottom line. Purim is not the Jewish Halloween. Hanukah is not the Jewish Xmas. Passover is not the Jewish Easter.  Moses is not the Jewish Jesus. If you want to know the real authentic answer to your questions, as your friendly neighbourhood Orthodox Jew. [3]

In a few days, I will be flying to Israel for two weeks. I’ll let you know if any secular Israelis or born again tourists ask me anything!

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[1] The loud, arrogant and downright rude biblethumper who points his finger an inch from your face or chest and says, “You Jews rejected your Messiah!” (No… we rejected YOUR Messiah. BIG difference!)

[2] I had one enthusiastic born-again preacher literally walk over a picnic table and run out to me on a sidewalk in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in order to pick a fight with (aka ‘witness to’) me. I must have stuck out like… well… a Jew walking along the sidewalk in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

[3] NB: ‘Messianics’ or ‘Hebrew Christians’ (e.g. Jews for Jesus) do not practice Judaism. That’s because what they believe in is Christianity. The answer you’ll get from them is basically no different than the one you will get from any other born again evangelical fundamentalist Christian.

Fashion is My Jesus?

Saw this photo last night and HAD to post it here!

The photo is linked to BabeWalker.com. Babe Walker is the genius behind the fabulous book White Girl Problems.

I found the photo at the White Girl Problems Facebook page.

Not being a Christian, I am very curious to see other people’s reaction to this photo.

Shocking? Offensive? Intriguing? Does it make your blood race? Your jaw drop? Your eyes roll?

I’d genuinely like to hear… especially from those in the fashion and photography business!

Rosh HaShana – Going into Total Jew Lock Down

Well, boys and girls – geeks and nerdlings – it’s that time of year again!

The Jewish holidays will soon be fast upon us. (Is that a redundancy?)

This coming Jewish year (5773), all of the seven (count ’em – SEVEN!) of Jewish holy days between September 16 and October 10 will fall on week days.

I will be spending almost all of them in The Heart of the Old World (i.e. the area of Bathurst Street between Lawrence and Wilson avenues)

As such, this blog (along with its ‘brother blog’ Kosher Samurai) won’t be posting articles as per its regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule.

It’s a Jew thing. 😉

Not to worry. I will return to my usual full schedule by the middle of October, all refreshed and spiritually revived.

Wish all of my readers the best, now and always. Thank you for popping by and reading my musings.

As they say in the Vatican, “Gutt yontiff! A gutten un a gezinter yor! A gebentshed un a zeeser yor!”*

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* Translation (from Yiddish): “Happy holy day! A good and a healthy year. A blessed and a sweet year!”